Happyness pick up rave CMJ reviews / London headline show on Nov 4th (Elektrowerkz)
South London trio Happyness are back on UK soil now, returning triumphant from an outing at this year’s CMJ. Brooklyn’s annual new music marathon saw the band hit a number of premier venues across the week, resulting in them featuring on a number of Best Newcomer lists, including NPR’s All Songs Considered, NPR’s Best Discoveries of The Festival, The New York Times, Esquire, Sterogum, Brooklyn Vegan and Diffuser.
On Tuesday 4th November the band will be back in London for their next headline show at The Elektrowerkz – a show that marks 1 year since their first ever live performance – before taking some time to plot an even bigger 2015. Please do drop me a mail back if you’d be interested in a slot on the guest list. If you’ve not heard the album yet, you can listen in full here
Praise for Happyness at CMJ:
“…would have sounded at home on 1990’s college radio alongside Pavement, Oasis, the Replacements and Husker Du.”
The New York Times
“For a song about scalping Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler, “Montreal Rock Band Somewhere” begins on a surprisingly upbeat note. The ambient drone that closes the track seems more fitting of Happyness’ wry, dark lyrics.”
NPR All Songs Considered
“…a twisted, dry, 21st-century sense of humor and a musical foot in the fuzzy ’90s. Unlike so much of what I saw at CMJ, these songs by Happyness distinguish themselves from each other in tone, rhythm and degrees of sadness and appropriately, happiness.”
NPR’s Top 10 Discoveries from CMJ
“Thick bass lines and alternately clear and sludgy guitars made for a nice instrumental combination… This band makes perfect rainy-day music: contemplative but not world-weary, mellow rock.”
Esquire – Best Bands To Watch Next
“There was a British contingent, too, with bands dedicated to the snappy, tautly constructed, guitar-driven rock song: bands like Happyness, whose slightly bent song structures echo the 1990s indie-rock of Pavement and the Replacements”
The New York Times