27 Apr 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Serious Happiness - EP Review: Serious Happiness

22 Feb 2020 // A review by Paul Goddard

The ocean is amazing. Just about everyone in New Zealand has a connection with it. It can calm and sooth, it can be a scary as fuck. It also throws up gems everyday (along with its fair share of plastic jandals)

New Plymouth has a rocky shoreline but just as the sea pummels the rocks into shiny treasures, it has also thrown up another gem.

Serious Happiness have been shaped by Taranaki and they also shine.

When I read that name I hated it. Like seriously what the fuck? Then I heard the music on this debut EP and it all made sense

The four songs on the Serious Happiness EP twist and turn through a maelstrom of indie cool, punk ethics, soulful funk and garage D.I.Y. It doesn’t sound like it was created in the 'Naki - this is the sound of a group of people wanting to escape. A group of people who want to create something that the world can hold and admire. Something new and shiny. Something to smile about.

This EP is a statement of intent. It ticks all the boxes whilst also asking “do you love us?”

There is a sense of the need to be accepted in its crossing of genres but there is enough attitude seeping through to give a big fuck you if you don’t like it

I know I am not giving you much indication of what this EP sounds like.

I don’t want to

Just buy it and find out for yourself. Discover what Taranaki has thrown up. Love it or hate it Serious Happiness are seriously talented and they're here to stay.

Rating: ( 4 / 5 )
 

About Serious Happiness

Joel Ruys, Kayleb Duckett, Sam Egli and Stu Morris are the faces of Serious Happiness, the inimitable rock-n-roll boy-band. Serious Happiness are a unique band in that each member is a singer songwriter in their own right. The band's live shows include instrument trading on a near song-to-song basis which makes for both a musically and visually diverse experience.




Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Serious Happiness

Releases

Serious Happiness
Year: 2020
Type: EP

Other Reviews By Paul Goddard

Sam Cullen - EP Review: Love Again
18 Apr 2024 // by Paul Goddard
When I first heard this brand-new EP from Invercargill native Sam Cullen, I was immediately reminded of another famous Sam who has an equally famous last name (Fender).The four songs on the Love Again EP  have a familiarity and similarity with roots going back to Springsteen and the well-trodden stadium rock road but there is also something in the songs on Love Again that could only be grown in New Zealand.
Read More...
Skitch Hiker - Single Review: Slippery Wet Handshake
30 Jun 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Wow.Just when you have given up on music and banging your head against a brick wall wondering why Taylor Swift is more popular than toilet roll during a pandemic something like this comes along.
Read More...
Retro Valley - Single Review: Backseat Lovers
19 May 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Right from the opening bars of Backseat Lovers by Hamilton-based Retro Valley it is clear that this song is pure class.This 3-minute tune is a next-level lesson in how to create, perform and produce a pop/indie classic.
Read More...
Murmur Tooth and Lars Moston - Album Review: No Time To Explain
19 May 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Collaborations can work. Sometimes they do most of the time they don't.
Read More...
Album Review: Sex Dad's Greatest Hits: The Very Best Of Sex Dad
27 Dec 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Feeling bloated and underwhelmed. Listening to mainstream radio in the car as I left my phone at home.
Read More...
Marrow Neck - EP Review: Made Up
23 Nov 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Sitting here in a very wet and cold, rainy UK watching the oldies falling out of the local Wetherspoons where they have been on the piss since 9am (yep the UK is weird it's only the old people who can afford to get pissed all day).I am reflecting on the past as I listen to the latest EP Made Up from Auckland-based Mark Hannington.
Read More...
Amanaki - EP Review: Tempest
03 Nov 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Hardcore.It tends to mean extreme.
Read More...
Big Scout - Album Review: Council Sport
18 Aug 2022 // by Paul Goddard
It’s finally here. The first Long Player from Blenheim noisy buggers Big Scout.
Read More...
View All Articles By Paul Goddard

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • FORTNIGHT
    Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone
  • TOO SWEET
    Hozier
  • DOWN BAD
    Taylor Swift
  • THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
    Taylor Swift
  • SO LONG, LONDON
    Taylor Swift
  • I CAN DO IT WITH A BROKEN HEART
    Taylor Swift
  • MY BOY ONLY BREAKS HIS FAVORITE TOYS
    Taylor Swift
  • BUT DADDY I LOVE HIM
    Taylor Swift
  • FLORIDA!!!
    Taylor Swift feat. Florence And The Machine
  • WHO'S AFRAID OF LITTLE OLD ME?
    Taylor Swift
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem