Scouting For Girls. Now I can almost guarantee when you hear that name you think of many nights out singing ‘She’s So Lovely’ at the top of your lungs. Or hearing ‘Elvis Isn’t Dead’ blast from the car radio. Well they never went away after that, and they are back with their eighth long player, These Are The Good Days, and they hope you’ll listen to it just as fondly as you did those classic indie pop records 20 years ago (yes, that long!).

The title track starts with some mellow piano and smooth guitar from Connor McDonald and some relaxed vocals from Roy Stride. It comes across as a soft indie pop ballad, a nice slow and upbeat track to get us started, with some peaceful harmonies too. Unfortunately, that’s where it starts going downhill. ‘Get What You Give’ brings the tempo up a bit. Straight away, you can notice the band has gone much more poppy than they used to be, the beat, the vocal, the harmonies. It’s almost too happy. Quite a repetitive track as well. ‘Waiting For You Love’ starts with an annoying ‘do do’ section then there is a slightly catchy riff from McDonald. Stride lowers his vocal for the verses in this song, and I don’t why, it doesn’t work well. The track just sounds bland for the most part, McDonald salvages it slightly with his guitar work, but it just doesn’t sit right as a whole. Sloppy.

‘Stars Never Fade’ already lets you down from the get-go, Stride sounds like he is trying to imitate an X-Factor singer (boring). McDonald is consistent with his playing though, so that’s something positive. The album has been very mellow so far, which for those who listened to the band in their early days know, they aren’t mellow. It just doesn’t work for them. ‘Don’t Go Solo’ starts with Stride singing like some drunk southern cowboy (what are you doing Roy?), not his best idea. It’s definitely a song for a bad scene in a bad rom-com. ‘As Bad As You Are Beautiful’ continues in the bland pop vain. It’s got that ‘happy clappy’ beat which bores the hell out of me. I believe this is what they call running out of ideas.

I was hoping it stopped there, but still pushing on. ‘Love Gone Bad’ sounds like it was written in 2015 along with all those other bland pop love songs that came out around that time. It feels lazy and repetitive and it just doesn’t strike as anything other than boring. Where did it all go wrong? ‘Counting Down The Days’ is another weak ballad, even McDonald’s riff can’t save it. It just feels like manufactured indie pop slop at this point. It reminds me off an intro song to an early 2000s animated film (which were always cheesy as hell), poor show. ‘Still Feel The Love’ has some decent guitar work from McDonald, and that’s about it. Yet another sleazy track on an album of sleazy tracks. And finally, ‘Alright In The End’ (it doesn’t feel alright) tries to replicate the early energy of Scouting For Girls, but just comes across as dull and unoriginal. McDonald does a bit of guitar showboating in the middle which doesn’t seem to belong there. Maybe it has been 20 years because this is certainly different, for the worse.

Now I assume this is what artists call the ‘retirement’ period of their careers. From their self-titled debut in 2007 to this, Scouting For Girls have fallen from indie grace to pop despair. The whole album just feels lazy, there’s no originality, McDonald tries to carry some of it with his playing but he can’t carry the whole band. The energy is just flat, it sounds too manufactured. If the day one fans are listening to this, I imagine they will be disappointed too. I would be cruel to recommend this one, so I won’t.

Scouting For Girls: These Are The Good Days – Out 27 March 2026

Are The Good Days OFFICIAL VIDEO