The Happies: If We Were Really Here

Grazing press clips for Salt Lake City’s apparent finest, the Happies, I can agree with most writers on the owners of the footsteps the band seems to be following: echoes of the Shins, Stereolab, and Grandaddy reverberate on If We Were Really Here. Not a bad place to start, as the deft melodies and easy charms of “Sun Don’t Shine” and “Paw Paw” demonstrate. Miles Biddulph and Kiley Mickelson each offer compositions which fit seamlessly side by side, which bodes well for all of the directions the band could decide to take. At the moment, they’re just a shade green with some tracks (“Open Up”, “Learn How to Pray”) that fail to distinguish themselves in any meaningful way from like-minded pop rock enthusiasts.