Lovejoy is a indie rock band that is founded by William Gold, who goes by Wilbur Soot. The members include Ash Kabosu on drums, Joe Goldsmith on guitar, Mark Boardman on drums, and Wilbur on vocals and guitar. On October 14th, 2021, they released an album titled Pebblebrain. It features seven tracks, of which four of them I will be going over.

The first song is “Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry?” This energetic piece is about a man, presumably someone Wilbur knows, who hasn’t gotten over his ex-girlfriend yet. In it, Wilbur states that the girl was too good for him. It’s sort of adding insult to the man’s injury, as from the lyrics you can assume that Wilbur is in love with the girl as well.

Next up is “Model Buses,” which is a reference to the UK’s prime minister’s strange hobby of crafting models of buses. The song is about a girl, presumably the same one from “Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry?”, who is now single and fears a new relationship. Similar to beliefs about the prime minister, they are both “Scared of the future”

“Spitting spite as fast as saliva,” sings “Concrete,” a song in which Wilbur finally gets together with the girl but things don’t seem as well as he thought they would. The lyrics seem to insinuate an unhealthy relationship between the two, saying “If I had it my way, you’d sleep on the concrete floor.”

Finally, “Perfume” is my favorite song in the EP. Initially, it was going to be scrapped from the album until his friend, Tommy, told him not to. It tells the story of after their breakup, with the girl going back to her old ex. Wilbur says, “I can still smell her perfume,” suggesting that he misses her. Unlike the other songs, we get a view from the girl’s perspective. The lyrics show how she wanted to be in a relationship, saying “It seems like all her friends abruptly fell in love, and she was in the dust.” This was most likely the reason for their break-up, as she wasn’t fully committed to the relationship, instead using it for a better status.

In total, the Pebblebrain album is one heck of a ride. Not only that, but the songs are incredibly catchy. I highly recommend this to any pragmatic lovers, who don’t want a fantasy love song and instead a reality check on how tough love can actually be.

Listen and download music by Lovejoy free with your library card on Freegal.