The Happy Somethings - Caught In The Web

 

I love The Happy Somethings. Their jauntiness has been a fine antidote to the gloom that seems to have descended on proceedings over recent years. They have encapsulated what is great about Indie Pop in a roundabout twee way.

But what is this I hear here? Our beloved Trio appear to be all grown up and only Smitten really compares to what we know, all Housemartins jangly. Caught In The Web seems more serious, deeper and reveals different strands to the band. This is a set of themed songs about disenchantment with the internet.

Emerald Green Eyes even has hints of French Pop in the chorus and A Quick Waylay treads into Toytown with light footsteps and has a big almost Glam chorus. Prey is wonderfully melancholic and sports a cracking instrumental arrangement.

Kiss Of Life almost attains The Seekers in a strumming all together now affair. The opener, Is This Thing Broken is Folk Pop. There is real lyrical depth on show that is admirable, previously missed in the happiness of previous songs. The Happy Somethings show a whole new side and it is splendid.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. It is currently at Name Your Price.

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The Happy Somethings - Unhinged EP

 

It is always welcome to have the Indie Pop trio that are The Happy Somethings back. Their jauntiness is a great contrast to all the angular riff laden guitar missives and the big melodic Pop Rock. Unhinged is their latest Name Your Price EP and it revels in lo-fi poptastic pleasure.

The bitter sweet Housemartins lyrics of Everyone Seems To Like Me (Except You) explains what they do best, melodic dreamy pop at its very best. Men Pause even comes across as lounge pop, but done in a sort of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Of Company B manner.

Bubble gets even poppier with the dual female vocal being joined by of all things, an Indie Guitar Riff. Hey Tricky even adds lines from Tony Basil's Hey Mickey. Something really pleasant as an interlude to what's to come. Which is a stack of Album reviews along more familiar lines/

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Happy As You Like - Happy As You Like

 

Another Subjangle triumph! I love The Happy Somethings. Their brand of irreverent jaunty 80s Indie Pop is a joy to listen to. So I was always going to be interested in the solo album from Happy, who is one third of the band as Happy As You Like is indeed him.

This is wonderfully different album. More serious in feel than his band, his vocal is fragile at times, so fragile that it might break. The sound is very late 60s to early 70s, almost folk at times, more than a little hippy, more than a little Bolan in Tyrannosaurus Rex mode.

There are variations, for instance Leaves Must Fall is superb Psych Pop, bordering on Toytown. Fall For Love is very 80s, but a million miles away from what The Happy Something do, at times it even gets a little bit Prog.

Little Wonders is all 60s Bacharach smooch and Dovetail Joint plants a foot in Americana, but is built on a wonderfully inventive gentle arrangement. Driver plays that vocal fragility to the max, yet Yo Yo Yo is splendid Psych.

The template though is the ace Pastoral Folk Pop, a bit like Martin Newell, if he paid more attention to a song instrumentally instead of wallowing in Lo Fi. In Another World is the song that best demonstrates this, but there is also sprinklings of The Happy Something's wit.

Now We Know is the best example of this and gets very close to Indie Pop, but the Baroque arrangement takes it beyond that. Solid Ground is melancholic and moody and adds another tick. All in All, Happy As You Like It is a tour de force and something that every home should have.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about The Happy Somethings here.

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The Happy Somethings - A Gathering Of Sorts

 

The Happy Somethings return with their wonderful brand of chirpy Indie Pop and there isn't much joy in the UK since the Brexit nonsense descended on us like a big cloud of doom. This trio definitely do their bit and as always at Name Your Price.

There is a splendid lyrical adeptness and wit in tackling the everyday banal. Song titles like I Wish You Could Sing Like Tracy Thorn and all wrapped in melodic catch singalong joy. However this seemingly simplicity is a ruse at times.

Take for instance ,Stand Together which is an Indie, almost Psych Pop, Guitar Fuzz out and Worried Fools is great Jangly melodic Folk. The standout here is the sheer Pop of Anglepoise. Delivered as a sort of playground song but backed by Indie noise.

Tracey Thorn is delivered twice, once as a You and closes with an I. The former is delivered as a vocal ensemble in a 70s style strum along. The latter is a much moodier doleful acoustic tale of sheer frustration. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album at Name Your Price here.

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I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2022 : 41-50

This year, the standard has been the highest since IDHAS began six and a half years ago. Narrowing things down to this 100 as been really difficult. For each album, I've posted a song from it and a link to the IDHAS Review where you can find further details and how to listen or buy the album. 

A reminder that anything reviewed on I Don't Hear A Single is highly recommended.

No 41 : The Mellons - Introducing… The Mellons!    IDHAS Review

No 42 : Chris Lund - Indian Summer       IDHAS Review

No 43 : Rogers & Butler - Brighter Day     IDHAS Review

No 44 : Sarchasm - Conditional Love         IDHAS Review

No 45 : Adrian Belew - Elevator    IDHAS Review

No 46 : The Happy Somethings - Running Away With The Happy Somethings      IDHAS Review





No 47 : Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin - Now With More Rockets    IDHAS Review

No 48 :  Ex Norwegian - Spook Du Jour    IDHAS Review

No 49 : Young Guv - GUV III   IDHAS Review

   

No 50 : Affiliate Links        IDHAS Review

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The Happy Somethings - Running Away With The Happy Somethings (Name Your Price)

 

One of the big in the UK music wise (I know there are many) is that it has become so regional. The majors have become more and more London centric and the volume of Indie labels have evaporated leaving a world of self releasing. 

You would think that the supposed wonder of Spotify and the reach of the internet would make it much easier for Indie artists to reach an audience, but the problem is that you only find what you are looking for, you don't discover things any more. There are no happy accidents and you rely on people you respect to point you in some direction. 

There are some great Internet Radio Stations out there, but they are few and hard to find. I notice fellow writers and there are some wonderful examples out there, but too many rely on what they are fed. I see whole months of reviews that are from PR that I have been sent and I wonder do these writers ever try to discover things for themselves.

Which is where The Happy Somethings come in. There was a time when the trio would be lauded. They have more than enough tools to do the job. Great Pop that is not out of the text book. They can offer up chorus led joy with a lyrical depth to be honoured. 

You find yourself caught between singing along and concentrating on the lyrics. A band that can make you think yet tap your feet is surely something to behold. There is also an outstanding wit splattered across the catchiness.

They can be Jangle Pop, they can do Folk Pop. They can be B52s, Paisley Pop, Bananarama, The Armoires take your pick. They can also be as way out Indie as way out could possibly be. Sometimes twee, other times deep, but always with a hook. At times they can be Alisha's Attic. but they can also be The Seekers or give a Sun Sawed in 1/2 vibe.

They can write something as splendidly left field as Ego Testicle and yet also write a ballad as beautiful as Good While It Lasted. Then there are joyful Pop songs such as Not In This Life and Forward Now. Hopefully the fact that Subjangle have got involved will give The Happy Somethings the audience that they deserve, but don't necessarily crave.

Two albums and a number of EPs in, the band have collaborated with Subjangle to release this 24 song compilation. It is available as a Name Your Price, so what on earth have you got to lose? The sound of summer with songs that don't go on about how hot it is.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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