Emo-Pop-Punkster HAPPY release their debut album the wonderfully nostalgic, fizzy and poptastic ‘Cult Classics’. Opener ‘How To Lose A Girl In 1.45’ resonates like an American Idiot album cut before the teen comedy soundtrack single ‘Don’t Overdose And Drive’ slips into Stiflers Mom quicker than Finch at a frat house hoedown. The unashamedly obvious Punk-Pop pace is celebrated rather than hidden under faux emotion, oblivious parents and smeared eyeliner. The standard Emo Rocker ‘Winona Ryder’ has a hook for every verse while ‘I Call Shotgun’ plays pinball with the senses and easy to see why this radio-friendly cut was the album’s lead single. A chugging ‘Drowners’ splutters in the relationship surf whereas ‘Lucky’ blows laconic lemonade bubbles at the beach bar. ‘With a Y’ has Bowling For Soup spine and the sing-a-long verse may prove to be a concert Happy favourite. An old-school Pistols riff kicks ‘Fishtank’ into life but sadly the track reverts to the one size fits all Punk-Pop retric. The wishy-washy love song arrives with ‘Wonder’ before an Emo heavy ‘Where The Wild Things Were’ completes ‘Cult Classic’. Happy have kissed fresh oxygen into the struggling for breath Pop-Punk body genre with their silver medal debut. “I promise that you’ll like it.”
HAPPY
CULT CLASSIC
Rude Records
8/10