Big Stir Records is steadily building a reputation as one of the great caretakers of guitar pop and power pop. Their roster doesn’t just feature excellent newer acts like Crossword Smiles and Popular Creeps, but also new releases from veterans such as 20/20, Spongetones, Sorrows, Graham Parker, and sparkle*jets u.k.
Even so, the label must have known it had something special when The Greenberry Woods resurfaced with a batch of new songs. After all, this is a band that hadn’t released new music since the mid-’90s. Songs like Trampoline, Super Geek and Love Songs remain fixtures on plenty of power pop playlists from that era. I know I was curious. As it turns out, It’s All Good, Sugar is more than a welcome return. It’s a genuinely strong guitar pop record.
Much of the album lands in that sweet spot where ’90s alternative guitar pop and power pop overlap. Thirty years ago I probably would have called this modern power pop, invoking names like Teenage Fanclub and Fountains of Wayne. In 2026, “modern” may no longer be the right word, but the songs still hit the same pleasure centers.
The Greenberry Woods aren’t content to stay in one lane, either. That Girl has more than a little of ’80s Elvis Costello in its DNA, while Waiting Round For Something To Go Wrong sounds like something Evan Dando might have scribbled down during the Come On Feel the Lemonheads years.
For a band returning after three decades, The Greenberry Woods sound remarkably unconcerned with reliving the past. We all benefit. LP and CD available on Big Stir
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp