Customer Reviews

Happy Birthday

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bout time! Something new and refreshing with some great guitar licks. Been looking for a new band with a cool/unique sound, but can still rock.

This album is a cool blend of pop, psych and garage . And its catchy as hell!

Happy Birthday is the perfect blend of garage rock and shoegaze. Every song on this CD is catchy in it's own way, yet Happy Birthday maintains a consistent stream of edge and fluff through out. The guitar solos on this CD bleed out and wrap you in a cotton candy cocoon. For fans of Jay Reatard, Woods, and Meneguar.

Bubbly pop albums aren't commonly packed with the highest nutritional value, yet attempts to expand this plenty-enjoyable-yet-easily-forgettable stigma have only had moderate success. A couple more prominent routes are neo-psychedlia and noise pop. The former, made popular by a lot of the Elephant 6 folks (i.e. Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal), doesn't always feel focused enough to constitute a pop album and this may not be the intention of the artists. However the emphasis on bubbly pop sensibilities still remains, albeit in the setting of a 60+ minute journey instead of bite size pieces. Alternatively, the noise camp (i.e. Times New Viking, Wavves) is more set on blending and obscuring pop hooks with a screen of noise to give tracks a bit more angularity while scuffing up a shiny surface.

Enter the comfortable stroll of Happy Birthday, one of the latest additions to the Sub Pop roster. Their latest album clocks in at just over 30 minutes, but the replay value remains fairly unrivaled against the majority of releases this year. They pull elements from both aforementioned paths, but more efficiently weigh and balance the components. There's plenty of fuzz and psychedelic breakdowns, but the result is a more focused, addictive form of unapologetic pop music that would easily fit in with the Elephant 6 crowd (but that seems more intent on sticking to your sides). There's still a strong emphasis on harmony and melody, but there's just as much focus on song structure.

"Subliminal Message" is probably the most immediately loveable track. Backed by soothing synth and an 80s backbeat it's a near perfect passive love song a la "Every Breath You Take." The playful mood of the album is definitely mirrored by the youthfulness of the lyrics, "Close your eyes, concentrate, I'm sending you subliminal message to your heart." There are several songs that touch on insecure detachment from social realms/love from distance themes such as "Girls FM" and "2 Shy," but the mood stays so light and fun that it sounds more declarative than degrading. Even during more dissonant songs like "Cracked" and "Eyes Music," the choruses provide enough warmth to bring you back.

Kyle Thomas's sometimes too nasal vocals are probably one of the more polarizing features of the band. It's just one of those love or hate type voices that sometimes brushes too closely with grating, but for the most part he tends to recognize his limits and smoothes things over when needed. This is indie pop after all. However, the melodies are so strong, many times so classically 60s, and often quite unexpected when unearthed, that they really shine in context to the shenanigans level musicianship. Contrary to the distance maintained between Thomas and the subjects of his tunes, Happy Birthday is not just a band to watch from afar, but one to join.....and of course celebrate.