DEBUT EP FROM HAPPYNESS WILL BRING THE SMILES

Youngsters channelling feel-good 90s US indie sounds, with impressive versatility and maturity.

Happyness - EP - Weird Smiling (the band’s own label) - OUT NOW!

Catchy, tuneful, cheerful – South London newcomers Happyness (sic) have proved they have got decent song writing chops with this melodic debut. The four songs on the Happyness EP veer gently and ably across familiar indie realms.  Opening song “It’s On You” is a poppy and likeable summer tune, and sets us up nicely for the Sparklehorse-esque “Orange Luz”.  The final two songs – instrumental “Lascascadas”, and winsome finale “Montreal Rock Band Somewhere”, steer us steadily to a close at around the 15-minute mark. Well-crafted, pleasant, enjoyable – if there is a ‘but’ it has to be the feeling that Happyness have something more in the tank that is not on display (or – less charitably – the question whether they are really ploughing their own furrow at all).  The prominent influences do rather impinge on the listener’s ability to see the band straight – it’s an EP of good songs that will feel familiar to many. So, does Happyness have a hitherto unseen edge? On the strength of this EP, this correspondent suspects so – and will happily wait and see. Happyness are: Jonny Allan, Benji Compston and Ashley Cooper.
7/10

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