Good Enough Finds ‘Solace’ in Debut EP

By Sean Alexander

Photos courtesy of Good Enough

Emerging from a shared love of indie pop and a serendipitous college jam session, Good Enough, a Seattle-based bedroom pop band lead by duo Ash Aphale and Marcus Jernigan, is preparing to release their debut EP, Solace, on October 17.

Originally from Atlanta and now making waves in Seattle’s music scene, the pair met during their freshman year at Georgia State University. However, it wasn’t until over a year later that they discovered that they were both musicians. Aphale heard Jernigan playing around with a guitar and a loop pedal, sparking their creative partnership.

Aphale wrote lyrics to go with  Jernigan’s loop, birthing the duo's first song. The two continued collaborating on music throughout college.  Both had a strong fondness for  bedroom pop  created from 2017-2019.

At this point, it wasn’t about creating a band, just about figuring out the music space they wanted to be in.

“We were just working on finding our sound,” said Aphale, the band’s lead vocalist and keyboardist. “We knew we kind of liked the same genre of music and were inspired by that to create songs.”

Later on, Aphale and Jernigan started to find that sound, and the idea of becoming a full-fledged band began to surface.  The name Good Enough, fittingly, was born from a rough cover of Clairo’s Bags. After a rocky play through of the song, Jernigan joked: “Eh, good enough.” The phrase stuck, and became their identity.

“We enjoy nostalgic-feeling music,” Jernigan said. “And I think that’s what we really go for.”

Their upcoming EP, Solace, is a five-track exploration of life’s messiness in your 20s. It touches on romantic loss, self-identity crises, and ultimately, finding peace. Aphale, who wrote the lyric that inspired the EP’s name, said she was drawn to the word's definition: “comfort in distress.”

“Despite it all, there’s always going to be solace in your life, whether that’s people you love or music that gives you an outlet,” she said.

Good Enough writes and records most of their music themselves, with Jernigan serving as guitarist, drummer, and main producer

. Solace marks their first time bringing in someone else for mixing and mastering. They worked with Lalo Madrid for audio engineering. Having someone else do the mixing and mastering presented an ultimately fulfilling challenge for the duo . Everything up to this point was done by just Aphale and Jernigan. Still, the group worked hard to maintain the same energy and style that Good Enough holds dear.

“It was a big learning curve,” Jernigan said. “But he [Madrid] did an amazing job and helped the songs still feel like ours.”

Even as their process evolves, Good Enough is holding onto their DIY roots and the intimate sound that first brought them together.

“We’re still trying to craft a sound around that,” said Aphale. “Because we really like where we came from.”

The EP’s second single, Baby Come On Over, dropped on September 24. Good Enough will open for Double Wish on October 4 at Chop Suey in Seattle.

After release, Solace will be available via all major streaming platforms.