8/10

London-based outfit Happyness have been circumnavigating the peripheries of the capital's underground music scene for a while. Their infectious blend of low-fi indie and sun-kissed surf rock has won them fans and critics across the country, as now the band ready themselves to release their debut album 'Weird Little Birthday'. While this new full-length may come a little premature as it was only six months ago they released their first EP, when the music is this good, you can understand why they rushed to get this out into the public domain.

Clearly influenced by the American rock sound of the 1990s, 'Weird Little Birthday' is a cohesive, down-tempo dream of a record that maintains this focus of sound and style throughout. 'Naked Patients' seems to resinate that same wistful beauty as The Smashing Pumpkins' '1979', while 'Great Minds Think Alike, All Brains Taste The Same' and 'Leave The Party' could have been lifted from a Pixies record. And as it goes on you feel that this is a band that aren't looking to compromise themselves in any way. The record continues on to bring the occasional guitar-fuzz fest in the shape of 'Refrigerate Her' and 'Anything I Do Is Alright' that show that while they stick to mainly mellow guitar melodies, they have enough raw passion to whack out a couple of lively numbers to keep the pace of the record ever moving forward.

It certainly is good to hear that even a low budget album can still sound incredible with the right musicians and producers at the helm. Happyness may still be looking for their big break but with a debut as good as this, I don't think we'll be waiting long.