One Happy Island

One Happy Island, "Cave City Sunrise" (DOWNLOAD)

One Happy Island comes out of Boston, MA and lists Cub, The Monkees, The Beach Boys, Squeeze, and The Everly Brothers as being among their influences, which is basically like a recipe for winning me over. The band has previously released 3 EPs and is now getting ready to release their first full length album on Odd Box Records on July 5th.

3 Things I like about the new One Happy Island album

1. It's uneven. Not all of the songs on this album are great, which seems like a weird or maybe even negative thing to say, but I really, really like that in a release. Not every song has to be or is meant to be perfect and the sloppy/incomplete feeling ones often end up being the most charming. I like the way that uneven albums let you go and then draw you back in -- they don't constantly demand your attention and emotional presence, you can enjoy them for what they are.

2. It has a delicate balance of happy, childlike songs & more sophisticated ones. I love "Elegant Elephant" because of it's upbeat rhymes & bouncy melody, but what really gets me is the way it's juxtaposed against the softer, sadder "How to Hurt," a gorgeous, spare song that has bits and pieces that remind me of sad sixties girl ballads (especially the tiny burst of drums at the very end.)

3. It plays fast. I'm not sure how to best explain what I mean by this -- just that you start listening, you get caught up in it, and before you know it, it's over and you're thinking about maybe listening to it again (which is how I've come to listen to this album 2 or 3 times today.)

The new album will be available from Odd Box on July 5th. It appears to be a CD only release & you can pre-order it here.

You can stream some One Happy Island songs on their MySpace & you can purchase additional releases from their website (they have the Secret Party That The Other Party Doesn't Know About EP as well as a limited edition compilation CD that collects their first three EPs.)

Odd Box also has a download up for "Elegant Elephant", one of my favorite songs on the album. If you're on the fence about buying the album, download it & see what you think!

For good measure, here's a video of the band performing "Elegant Elephant" at the NYC PopFest!



One Happy Island, "Cave City Sunrise" (DOWNLOAD)