Happyness @ SXSW (Photo: Paul Bachmann for Live4ever Media)
Happyness have returned with some new music.
(…Hey New York) is the first shout from the band since 2017’s Write In album, and comes with UK gigs due this month at the The Old England in Bristol; the Windmill in Brixton, London and at End Of The Road. “As they’ve suggested themselves, Write In is much more about the songs than bending a series of in-joke metaphors satisfyingly out of shape,” Live4ever’s Write In review states.
“This means sometimes more structure, sometimes less so, but always a reference, no matter how oblique (the alt.Rundgrenisms of Uptrend/Style Raids, the Dinosaur Jr-esque feedback soaked glamour-sludge of Bigger Glass Less Full) although Compston’s pulse never seems to rise that much above just-woke-up on much of it.”
“Frustratingly, at times it still feels like waiting around for something to happen, but the real lift off moment does eventually come with The C is A B A G, a wonderful slow burning detour that reveals the band capable of far greater subtlety, the kind of poise and verve which may yet drag them reluctantly onto grander stages.”
