Soaring, feel-great songs are Good Neighbours’ calling card and their live gigs are full of community and camaraderie. They’d been a duo for less than a year when “Home” went viral on TikTok in early 2024, but Oli Fox and Scott Verrill kept up the momentum and set to work making their debut album, Blue Sky Mentality. “In a perfect world, there would’ve been more time, because we’ve only really a band for about two years now,” Fox tells Apple Music. “It felt like the least we could do for all the new people that have started to follow us, in terms of putting all the songs in one lovely body of work and get it out there. We’re going to just crack on into album two now.” The duo, who met when they were working in East London studios next door to each other, make the process sound as relaxing as their songs. “We tried to book a few days out and write stuff and that didn’t really work for us, so I think we did it in a scrappy way,” says Verrill. “A couple of hours here, a couple of hours there, sending voice notes. That worked for us instead of being locked away, trying to force something out.” Beneath the easy-going exterior that’s reflected in their bouncy sound lie some tough-to-tackle themes. “Ripple” sees them reaching out to a friend sinking into grief, and the uplifting anthem “Keep It Up” was written on a particularly bad day for Fox. “It’s making life’s grittier problems seem a little more manageable and a bit more accessible to talk about,” he says. Read on as Good Neighbours take you through Blue Sky Mentality, track by track. “Keep It Up” Oli Fox: “Scott was in the studio and I came in to moan about being fired from my fourth part-time job in a coffee shop. I was honestly useless—I couldn’t make a coffee to save my life, and I didn’t know anything about beans. I really wanted to do music, but couldn’t find any way to make it financially viable. Scott had those piano chords running that you hear in the beginning of the track, so I took them into the studio and started wailing down the mic. Immediately, it created this vibe where me and Scott were like, ‘Actually, this feels like something special.’ It was uplifting, but you knew there was a grit and a grain of truth in the lyric as well.” “Skipping Stones” Scott Verrill: “We started this one together. It was a chance for us to lean into production, get a little more electronic and have some fun on the music side.” OF: “We grew up loving Passion Pit and MGMT, and the more you dig into those people, you realise they’re baring all with their lyrics as well. I guess that’s something you don’t really pick up on when you’re younger.” SV: “When we were making the project, we weren’t down, but we were a bit fed up and struggling to make ends meet, and then this became exciting and positive and a chance to make something that uplifted us a bit.” “Ripple” OF: “We started this before we knew that Good Neighbours was going to be a band. My friend had been really struggling to talk about his dad—who was like my second dad—passing. He was like, ‘I feel like every time I bring that up, it’s like I drag you down with me.’ For me, it was quite the opposite. I remember saying to him, ‘Oh well, whenever you come up for air, come and have a chat.’ That phrase started this image in my head of how grief can feel like you’re being submerged, and no one else can understand you because they’re all on the surface. I sent Scott the demo, and he flipped it on its head and, in true Good Neighbours fashion, made it into this optimistic-feeling track. I really love the juxtaposition of what the production does and what the message says.” “found u/me” SV: “Listening back to the album a few times, it felt like it was such high-energy and very indie and splashy, so we thought we’d try something that was a bit more heartfelt and organic. It was the last song we wrote for the album, and it popped out really quickly. We’re quite comfortable with a love song if it feels right, and this did.” OF: “Yeah, we’re quite shameless. It’s OK to be in love, guys.” “Walk Walk Walk” OF: “We were lucky enough to work with Justin Tranter, who’s written some ridiculously good songs [for Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Justin Bieber]. Everything from the 2010s onwards. As songwriters growing up, it’s a dream to go and work with someone like that. Justin was awesome, and we wanted to create that college party sound of the noughties, where we’ve watched videos of Yeasayer, MGMT and The Go! Team. Having a proper soaring synth melody has always been something we’ve aspired to do, but we needed to caveat that with a pretty solid pop song on the top. Justin brought those words out of us. It was like going back to school, working with someone like that, but we learned so much in one day. That song just goes off live.” “Kids Can’t Sleep” SV: “We wrote this in LA. It was a weird time, because we arrived on the day of the fires [in early 2025] and everything kicking off, so we flew into the chaos. It was born out of hiding away from the fires and feeling a bit weird about everything going on.” OF: “I’d been seeing loads online of people trying to come forward to talk about their mental health and older people were like, ‘Oh, this snowflake generation.’ I was filled with rage at that time, and then we arrived in LA and literally the world was on fire, so that’s what we’re talking about in the chorus. It’s a cry for a bit of normality again.” “Home” OF: “‘Home’ was written around the time of losing my mate’s dad. I went back to London a day early, and I saw my girlfriend at the time and hugged her outside the station, and my whole body relaxed for the first time in three days. I was like, ‘Oh, maybe home can also be within your mate or your best friend.’ That was an epiphany for me. The next day, me and Scott happened to be in the studio and it completely fell out word for word, so there was obviously something that needed to be said.” SV: “We never imagined one of our songs would go viral, so it caught us off guard. It was wild—the only reason we stuck it up online is because one of our friends persuaded us to use TikTok. So there was no big plan, it was an accident.” “Small Town” SV: “This is more of a scenic one for us, painting a picture instead of a specific story. I think it feels like the opening scene of a coming-of-age movie.” OF: “There was one person I never got over, and it was quite a young breakup when I first moved to London. It was about knowing that you were maybe the problem in the relationship, but realising it four years too late. I think when you go through your first proper heartbreak, London suddenly becomes the tiniest village ever and everyone knows about it. So it was all about drawing a parallel between the small town that I’m actually from and how London can shrink when something goes awry.” “Starry Eyed” OF: “We wrote this on tour with Foster the People when we were 70 per cent into finishing our album and we felt like we had a lot of bangers and high-octane songs. Then we were working with Joe Janiak [writer and producer for Lewis Capaldi, Ellie Goulding and Sigrid], who’s more of a friend than a collaborator. I’d hung out with him before in LA, and he had this weird banjo that had been re-strung with nylon strings, and it’s the instrument that plays throughout the track. Scott played the first three chords and we wrote the whole melody. I was like, ‘Actually, for once, rather than just layering it up, let’s keep this as stripped as we can and just tell a fun love story.’ People have really resonated with ‘Starry Eyed’ because it’s so different to the rest of our stuff.” “People Need People” OF: “‘People Need People’ has always gone down quite well live, so it felt right for the album. It sets up Blue Sky Mentality. We had the demo and we didn’t do anything with it, but when we decided we were going to make an album we revisited it.” SV: “I remember when we did the chorus, we were like, ‘Oh, this feels like a FIFA [the video game series] song.’ And then we found out the other day it was on FIFA [FC26] and we were like, ‘Great!’ It’s the second track we’ve had on there [after ‘Daisies’] and they asked us back, which we’ve been told is a rare thing.” “Left Hand Man” SV: “We started this on a writing trip in Cornwall. It was a noodle that turned into this fun song, and for us it’s almost an interlude. It’s a chance to breathe on the album, rather than have a load of loud noises being shoved in your face.” OF: “Obviously, making a big song is the funnest thing to do, but when you put them all on an album together you’re like, ‘Oh no, this is quite sensory overload for people.’ So it was fun to write some smaller moments to bring the listener back down to earth.” “Suburbs” SV: “We’re both from the suburbs [Fox is from Essex and Verrill just outside Croydon, South London], and I think it’s a weird feeling, being on the outskirts, with all these music and art scenes in London that you’re not really a part of. You grow up just wanting to be a part of it, and even now we’re in the circles, it makes you more grateful for where you came from.” OF: “I lived in quite a rural area and it was hard growing up wanting to chase your dreams. Most people from my area have very honest jobs, so you don’t come across many people that are like, ‘I want to go sing and dance on a stage.’ It’s nice to come back and feel like I proved a younger version of myself wrong.” “Wonderful Life” OF: “We were working on this the week that ‘Home’ went viral. The whole album touches on the idea that life’s going to be a rocky ride, but boil it all down and we’re so lucky to be here. At the time, I’d seen this thing from Brian Cox [the physicist] talking about how we’re on a planet, and we’re all technically made up of stardust. He was like, ‘That in itself is so ridiculous. What more could you possibly want?’ So on the days where you miss your bus or get fired from your job, it’s crap in the moment, but when you zoom out, it means absolutely nothing in terms of how lucky you are to just be here in the first place. That was a cry to myself, and also to all of our friends that were going through the mill at the time, because they’re awesome people.” “The Buzz” OF: “I think we impressed ourselves making ‘The Buzz’ because we’ve only ever made really big shiny things and that one felt like, ‘Oh, we are actually half-decent songwriters that can just write good songs.’ So it was nice to not shower something in production.” SV: “When it came to the last track on the album, it was between ‘found u/me’ and ‘The Buzz’. On our favourite bands’ albums there’s always been the ballad, and we felt like we’d not nailed that before, so we wanted to tackle it. We both have a soft spot for the song.”