On 1 May 2018, the Goon Sax announced the release of their second album, along with the single "She Knows".[14] Band member James Harrison explained the single "I hope it makes people energetic and excited to listen to, it’s a song about losing hope, stubbornness and heartache. I’m not sure if it’s our saddest song, but maybe if you lock yourself in your room for a couple of days and only listen to it you might not feel so happy". The music video was released on 30 May 2018, and directed by Tia Wolf.[15]
The music video for the opening track on the album, "Make Time 4 Love" was released on 17 July 2018.[16] The song was featured on Under the Radar's Top 10 Songs of the Week on 20 July 2018.[17]
The third single "We Can't Win" was released on 23 August 2018.[18][19]
On 20 February 2020, the music video to "Strange Light" was released.[20]
Critical reception
We're Not Talking was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 80 based on 13 reviews.[4] Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 79 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 14 reviews.[1]
Tim Sendra of AllMusic explained how the band spent time touring the world, whilst gaining experience to making a "more mature second record". He also noted: "The songs are bright and bold, the strings swoop in occasionally to lift the songs into the skies, and there's a refreshing lightness to everything that makes the still-somewhat-difficult nature of the subject matter go down more easily. They managed to build up and expand up their sound without losing the core of what made them special."[5]Clash gave the album a seven out of ten, saying "Something that immediately grabs you about this record is the production, which easily elevates it above its more naive sounding predecessor; the sound of new label Wichita making good on their investment.[6] Stephen Ackroyd of Dork gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, explaining: "Sweeping and swooning with the spirit of indie past, but never descending into generic laziness, The Goon Sax are the next wonders from Down Under.[8] Anna Alger of Exclaim! gave the album a seven out of date noted how the band have had a "graceful ascent into adulthood", while explaining "It is jangly and playful, while offering sobering portraits of reflections on navigating relationships in all their complexity."[9]
