Best Bets

***NZ power poppers Best Bets present their second full-length album The Hollow Husk of Feeling. Recorded in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand from late 2023 to early 2024, their sophomore album comes from a spiritual place that will be familiar to those who have absorbed the lyrics of Olly Crawford Ellis and James Harding through their work in Best Bets, and garage punks Transistors. The musical palette is expanded this time through the addition of songs penned by primary bass player Joe Sampson (Salad Boys, T54)—who also recorded, mixed and mastered the album in his signature style. But where Best Bets’ first album On An Unhistoric Night was a kaleidoscopic jaunt that intertwined obscure references with musings on life, their second album places at the forefront a feeling one suspects many know well. Sure, it wouldn’t be a Best Bets album without nods to things like Australian reality television of the early 90s, Mortal Kombat (1995), apocalyptic novels, Seinfeld, and automotive history. Even so, there’s an undeniable feeling permeating the album that a threshold has been crossed – be that out in the world, or perhaps even closer to home. As purveyors of guitar-driven power / jangle / fuzz pop, familiar sonic touchstones abound—think The Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Redd Kross. Yet things spill over in all directions and the album is tinged with elements of post-punk, glam and indie rock.