Big Stir Records is proud to announce the first album from power pop and alternative rock heroes THE GREENBERRY WOODS in over 30 years. IT'S ALL GOOD, SUGAR..., the long-awaited follow-up to the band's two beloved albums on Sire Records in the mid-'90s, sees release on Vinyl, CD and Streaming worldwide on May 29, previewed by the advance singles “Whenever You Want Me Too” and “The One That Makes You Happy.” The new album finds all three founding singer-songwriters picking up right where they left off to deliver twelve new tracks bristling with hooks and harmonies that easily equal their vintage classics, adding up to what may be their best work yet. Up for pre-order/pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/greenberrywoods-allgood

“Let’s rewind... Can we go back in time?” Those are the first words heard on IT'S ALL GOOD, SUGAR... and they speak volumes. Coming in on the downbeat of the first track “Summer Song” accompanied by brash, bright, open guitar chords, the yearning proclamation is immediately followed by the band crashing in with an amped-up midtempo groove that carries us directly to the first of the album's many gorgeous choruses. The focus on the past is no accident: the band is fully aware that the tune instantly telegraphs that the band who brought you “Trampoline,” the 1994 college radio hit from their widely revered debut album RAPPLE DAPPLE, is back. It's a twofold callback, not just to their own heyday on the robust power pop underground that encompassed peers like Matthew Sweet, Jellyfish and Fountains Of Wayne, but also to the decades-earlier inspiration of Big Star, Badfinger, The Beach Boys, and of course The Beatles. But while the album is informed by nostalgia, it's not defined by it. On an indie pop landscape where young bands like The Lemon Twigs are making those sounds fresh again, THE GREENBERRY WOODS step back into place as masters of the form with remarkable grace, erasing the intervening decades to bring us a simply stellar, timeless collection.

But for the moment, yes, let's rewind, just briefly, to establish why this reunion of THE GREENBERRY WOODS' three founding singer-songwriters – BRANDT HUSEMAN, IRA KATZ and MATT HUSEMAN – caused such a stir on the 21st century indie pop scene when the new and utterly beautiful single “Whenever You Want Me Too” appeared this March. Its warm Byrds-via-Crazy Horse vibes instantly evoked the days when the band arose, seemingly out of nowhere but specifically in Baltimore, and within two years delivered that classic debut and its 1995 followup BIG MONEY ITEM (enshrined as one of the 50 Best Power Pop Albums Of All Time in genre expert John Borack's two definitive books). Shortly thereafter, internal tensions were exacerbated by a particularly '90s strain of label unrest, and the band called it a day. Their legacy was carried forward chiefly by the Huseman twins' band SPLITSVILLE, which saw them joined by multi-instrumentalist PAUL KRYSIAK to release five widely hailed albums of their own. But after 2003, they too went silent. The indie pop world would have to wait twenty years for the threads to come together again. It would be worth it.

Fast forward to 2024 when Big Stir Records was privately alerted to the jaw-dropping news from Baltimore that both Splitsville and even more astonishingly THE GREENBERRY WOODS were back together and working on new material with KRYSIAK now in both bands, and JOE PARSONS (Myracle Brah, The Records) inheriting the GBW drum throne. To everything there is a season, and Splitville was to be first out of the gate with their BSR debut MOBTOWN bowing in 2025 to widespread acclaim.

It wouldn't be until this year that the admittedly loosely kept secret of THE GREENBERRY WOODS' reunion was revealed with the release of “Whenever You Want Me Too,” teasing the forthcoming album IT'S ALL GOOD, SUGAR... to fans everywhere. Taken together, the single and the lead track reveal a mastery of sparkling melodic guitar balladry that few outside of Teenage Fanclub can approach, and the album is an embarrassment of riches on that front. There's the pure power pop of “Very Good Year” (driving guitars, a McCartney-worthy melody and crunchy #1 Record-style boogie-rock breaks). There's the aching majesty of the maximum jangle heartbreaker “That Won't Make You Love Me” and the instantly classic melody and lovely, keening vocal of “Leave The Light On.” These songs simply slay. They sound like what the people who write power pop press releases like this one are always promising, but too rarely deliver. On this record, The Greenberry Woods have the goods.

In fact, the quality of the material on IT'S ALL GOOD, SUGAR... is so consistently high that picking the singles from this album was a particular challenge for the band and the label team. “The One That Makes You Happy,” the ultimate choice for the second preview track, so completely combines the very best aspects of melodic '90s alternative rock – pounding drums, churning riffs, a singalong chorus and even a touch of self-deprecating angst – that one can't help but think this would have been a huge commercial radio hit back during THE GREENBERRY WOODS' original run. Likewise, the under-two-minute sugar rush of “Waiting 'Round For Something To Go Wrong,” might plausibly have charted for either The Monkees or The Cure. And the absolutely wonderful “Lame Love Letter” weds a new wave power pop pulse that might have conquered the '80s airwaves to melodies, harmonies and piano of a decidedly '60s bent to create a genre-defying treasure all its own.

Surprises abound on the album, too, like the genuinely haunting lullaby-like “On The Day We Drowned” and the rollicking “All I Want Is You,” its pop-punk charge dotted with more winking references to classic pop lyrics than you'll be able to catch in one listen. It's one of many sly tributes to the band's musical heroes on the album, including the dead-on, revved up Elvis Costello salute “That Girl” (“If Elvis isn’t going to write a new Elvis song, then I will,” says Katz) and the closing track “December Boy.” Any Big Star fan (and there are surely plenty of them listening) will recognize the reference, but far from a languid “September Gurls” remake, “December Boy” swings out of the gate with an infectious '60s pop sound adorned with more swirling harmonies and a chorus that won't let go. It's a lovely conclusion that invites another listen to the full album immediately.

The return of THE GREENBERRY WOODS may be the most welcome news on the indie pop scene this year. And the album they've delivered more than lives up to their legacy, it lives up to its title as well. IT'S ALL GOOD, SUGAR... indeed.

Expected release: May 29, 2026