aaamusic | On 13, Dec 2013

I hate to start on a negative, but the presumably intentional misspelling of Happiness has made me do a little cry inside before I’ve even clicked the play button – it just looks wrong! Happyness (anyone remember that Will Smith film…?) are a three-piece, based in South London and unfortunately, their tired-sounding single ‘It’s On You’ has left me disappointed.

By tired-sounding, I mean whilst listening to the track, I could picture them all slumped on stools in a practice room, with their eyes propped open with cocktail sticks and Sellotape. I think it’s the vocalist’s dreary-sounding voice that’s giving me this idea. Also, the song doesn’t change pace at all and the dynamics are flatter than a pancake. Every second of this just-under three minutes long piece sounds just like the others; which is quite honestly pretty boring to listen to.

Happyness are clearly talented songwriters, as there’s a lot of potential in this song, but I’d like to hear them proving it. I mean, this track fades out, which is the laziest way to end a song – in my opinion, of course. There are catchy melodies within the song, but they’re just not powerful enough. The melodic-talking thing during the verses doesn’t really do much for me though.

Perhaps they show off their skill a little more with the other three tracks on their pending self-titled EP, which they recorded themselves in their loft (respect!), due for release in the first few weeks of the new year.

★★★★★

Jake Parker

You can hear ‘It’s On You’  here: