6/10

Over the years, the saga of Happyness has been a riotous and turbulent one to say the least. After the strong showing they gave on their highly-praised 2015 debut album 'Weird Little Birthday', cracks in the band's formation had already begun to show by the time their sophomore record 'Write In' came around in 2017. It was shortly after that when the trio decided to call a hiatus to work out how they were going to continue this project. And after some serious soul-searching, and the departure of founding member Benji Compston, Happyness now look to return more confident than ever with their third outing 'Floatr'.

But rather than rip straight back into things after their break, 'Floatr' treats itself as more of a slow-burner. The self-referential opener 'title-track' is a soft and sombre introduction to an album that rarely sees it necessary to raise its voice in anyway throughout. Instead we are treated to a diverse yet cohesive collection of fuzzy lo-fi indie-rock numbers that look to deliver more hallowed emotion than their last two LPs. From the very start, this release is looking to completely redefine the style of the band, keeping the energy at an arms length and creating a string of singles that look to have a more tortured feel behind them.

Of course, this is not intended as a depressed reinvention of the group's core sound, but instead 'Floatr' looks to show their fans that they are more than capable of creating something other than a 3-minute indie-rock stomper. It feels like we are seeing the rebirth of Happyness, a guise that should hopefully see them threw the next few years of their careers.