Happyness – Write In

When a band is known for swapping instruments in the studio, you expect the act to have a vibrant, eclectic sound that pulls influence from all ends of music. Happyness, with second record Write In, have accomplished that and more. The opening track Falling Down is a Beatles-esque tune with hazy vocals, and introduces the album with a structured confidence. Throughout the rest of the record Happyness take established genres and remake them, unravelling styles and stitching them back up again with a different coloured thread. The trio’s comfortably experimental approach to recording music allows them to cherry-pick sounds from new corners of musical history. Write In builds on the trio’s debut, maturing from relatable uber-lo-fi guitar-pop to become a coalition of leftfield influences. Elements of jazz (The Reel Starts Again [Man as Ostrich]) and psychedelia (Through Windows) work alongside dazy lo-fi (Uptrend). The latter half of the album boasts unnerving scratchy guitars (Bigger Glass Left Full) and underwater vocal (Tunnel Vision on Your Part), experimental pinches of music that are a theoretical mismatch but complementary in practice. Throughout the album the guitars remain soft, the vocal is sweet, and the material is soothing. Happyness have mastered the art of relaxi-pop, and surely the only way the trio can move is up.