THE LAST GOODBYE
Hailing from the culture enriched regions of North London, this collective of musical scientists are made up of four multi-instrumental songwriters, producers and mix engineers. Firstly hitting our radars with their perfectly titled “An introduction to…..Happy Science” back in February 2020, a time which we now all can refer to as the good old days.
The track was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s famous “A definition of Happiness” interview, which includes Hitchcock’s quote “Anger is a wasted energy” its a perfect introduction to the fantastic overdriven world of these post punk experimentalists. Dark yet dreamy, psychedelic yet extremely focused, a whirlwind of distorted guitar and hypnotic chants. The band themselves describe their unique sound to be “drawn from the outside of the boundaries”.
With a run of shows lined up Happy Science were ready to share their musical discoveries to the world, but like all bands everything was paused as the world took a forced vacation from normality. The boys headed back into the studio and started mixing up their musical medicine and on the 20th August 2021 released the outstanding single “Future Vertigo”, which made the Amazing Radio playlist for three weeks straight. Instantly reminding me of the pioneering “Good Morning, captain” by the hugely inspirational “Slint”. With massive echo’s of Sonic Youth, Pavement and the Pixes in there, you can tell that these boys delved into the world of what influences my influences. While welcoming the morning sunrise after an extremely late night. You can really here the ghosts of Krautrock. with reminders of the greats such as “Can, “Neu” and “Kraftwork”. Its unique vocal melody and lyrical style is somewhat uplifting , almost joyous in fact and with its shoegaze guitar this makes for some what of an incredibly fitting contrast. “Future Vertigo” was without a doubt one of my favourite records of 2021. Its got so much of what I love about todays music all rolled up in two minutes and fifty one seconds.
Right now see’s the release of the brand new single “The Last Goodbye” which is out today (Friday 28th January), its another intoxicating example of what these boys are about. Recently signing to Margate based label Launderette Records and receiving such praise as “love that sound, love that band” from Frankie Frances (Amazing Radio, Frankie & the Heartstrings ) to being described as simply “ Really Cool” from Radio X’s Mr cool Himself George Godfrey.
“The last Goodbye” straight off the bat pulls no punches. The Bass leads in with a seamless intro but giving no clues away as to where you’re about to be taken. One beautiful chord rings out and then with a skipped beat, bang the story has aligned. Again we’re given a taste of frontman Calum Connaughton’s poetic lyrical style. For example the opening line “ Once your done and you got your undertaker make up on” is dark yet witty, it makes you wanna look behind yourself to see if a morbid giant wrestler from the 1990’s is standing behind you about ready to nick your pint!
Recored at Shrunken Head Studios London ( King Krule, Ghostpoet ) and produced with intelligence, raw energy, sweat and meaning. Its definitely time we all had a listen to what Happy Science are saying.
“A tale of deceit, the deceased, a depleting fleet, its all on repeat, story screamed and barked, guitars sharp as glass, bass trudging from the start, the last one at the bar” another example of the fine melodic poetry frontman Calum brings to the table. With an almost Cooper Clarkesqe dialogue the track paints a picture of what drives these self described pub-going eccentric creative dynamites to create there own brand of Happy Science. The almost Bloc Party like guitar and pounding minimalistic drums backs up the vocal with ultimate precision, as the story paints a picture of broken London and boarded up Boozers. We’re almost taken on little walk around the streets of a city on the decline with an almost chilling feeling of being a part of it. This an extremely intelligent and descriptive track and certainly leads us to the question what’s up next from the musical arsenal of Happy Science.
To celebrate the release of “The Last Goodbye” the four piece will be playing an exclusive launch party at the uber-cool Shacklewell Arms in Hackney. Free Limited tickets are available via Dice. These will no doubt disappear sharpish after their debut show at the venue last June sold out and their high octane live performances have been much talked about amongst the gig going masses.
“The Last Goodbye” is available on all platforms now so jump on it. Brand new music is good for the mind body and soul its a Happy Scientific Fact!
Listen to The Last Goodbye HERE NOW
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Words by Jim Dolan for The Songbird HQ
The songbird 