Happyness

When Happyness first burst into the public conscience with 2013’s debut single “It’s On You”, which was a spirited take on US college rock. Their debut full length, Weird Little Birthday, went on to feature in many of 2014’s End of Year album lists. Worldwide tours, an NME Award, and a re-issue on the much-loved labels Bar/None in US & Moshi Moshi Recordings in UK, with anticipation the band finally reveal the full details of the follow-up.

Their sophomore album Write In will be released on April 7th through Bar/None in US. The record was recorded in the band’s own studio above a now-abandoned bookshop, then finished and mixed with Adam Lasus at his LA home studio. It features artwork from the band’s own Jon EE Allan. Write In sets its stall out as an outward looking, inventive, and thoughtful progression from their debut.

Drawing on an array of influences including Roxy Music, The Beach Boys, Randy Newman, Sonic Youth, Big Star and Pierre Cavalli, the direction is best summed up by Jon EE Allan; “I’d like to think this record looks outside the little American alt-rock sphere we were looking in on. I think we used to be very afraid of being earnest. And now we’re able to be tender or heartfelt without feeling too guilty about it. This record cost us about £500 to make, and that was mainly spent on an 8 track tape recorder and a dehumidifier. We self-produced it in our studio [the affectionately named ‘Jelly Boy Studios’, where the band also recorded their debut, Weird Little Birthday]. The building’s being redeveloped at the end of the year, so this is the last record we’ll make there, which feels like the end of a chapter for us.”

Ahead of the album release, new UK single “Falling Down” now has an official video, a disorientating and retro 7-minute spectacle, as guitarist Benji Compston explains; “A friend of ours manages a cinema (shoutout Nyla!) and she gets free use of it every Monday night when the public have left. We showed up at midnight with an old TV and some musical equipment and a vague plan to shoot a Spiegel Im Spiegel effect with the cinema screens. Special credit should probably also go to the coffee machine.”

Happyness will be playing SXSW and have announced an extra US date ahead of a full North American headline tour in the Spring. Benji says, “These shows are our first US dates for a while now, and for the first time we’ll have two albums to play from so we’re looking forward to it a lot. We’ve got a lot of expensive ideas for stage props that we probably won’t be able to realize by then.”