Released:
Rating:
Happyness doing what they do best.
Label: Moshi Moshi Records
Released: September 23rd 2016
Rating: ★★★
Throwing back to the 90’s comes the new helping from London’s Happyness. With their debut, ‘Weird Little Birthday’, they explored the more detailed eccentricities of this sound, but here on ‘Tunnel Vision…’ they exhume the relaxed and, at times, shoegaze influences.
‘Anna Lisa Calls’ is a pretty standard jam that goes through the motions whilst building itself to a point of minor eruption. Certainly a good start, though it does little to stir any form of real interest, with it’s drawling persona taking it’s time getting to the tipping point that pushes it into the realms of exciting. Following in similar fashion, ‘Friend of The Revolution’, a cover of the Club Gaga original, sticks true to both itself and the original, though the band do ensure to give it the care it deserves unlike the original, which can get lost in itself. ‘SB’s Truck’, conceding Samuel Beckett taking Andre The Giant to school in his truck, remains on a very similar path as those before it, not really venturing in to any different territory.
‘Surfer Girl’ brings a change of pace, albeit slightly slower. The fact it sounds so raw does bring forth a unique feeling to the track. with the instruments all sounding natural, in their purest form. The naivety and longing is accentuated with these factors, it’s a special moment that comes at the right time.
Finale, and where the EP finds its name, draws upon all of the prior styles to create an agglomeration that stands tall at six and a half minutes. A beautifully winding track that brings proceedings to a close. A solid EP that doesn’t exactly show development but it does show Happyness doing what they do best. Steven Loftin
