Quantcast

Call for Music Critics and Music Bloggers

Music
cover art

The Happies

If We Were Really Here

(Eden’s Watchtower)

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.

Rating:

Michael Metivier has lived and worked everywhere from New Orleans to Chicago to New York to Boston. He currently lives in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, with his bride-to-be and two hilarious guinea pigs. He records and performs original songs under the name "Oweihops".


Comments
Now on PopMatters
Mommy Fearest: 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' (Blu-ray) (Short Ends and Leader) [Wed, 12:30 pm]
2012 Nelsonville Music Festival (Notes from the Road) [Wed, 12:00 pm]
20 Questions: Hannibal Buress (Sound Affects) [Wed, 11:00 am]
Cannes 2012: 'Reality' + 'In the Fog' (Reviews) [Wed, 8:08 am]
Love, and Other Indelible Stains (Columns) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Sigur Rós: Valtari (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Lemonade: Diver (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Cory Branan: Mutt (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Big Science: Difficulty (Capsule Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
  1. The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
  2. Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
  3. Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
  4. Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
  5. 10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
  6. She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
  7. 'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
  8. Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
  9. Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
  10. The 10 Greatest Aspects of the 'Star Wars' Franchise (Short Ends and Leader)
  11. Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
  12. We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
  13. Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media)
  14. The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
  15. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
  16. The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
  17. Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
  18. Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
  19. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
  20. Saint Etienne: Words and Music (Reviews)
  21. In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
  22. Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features)
  23. In Defense Of... Rock Radio: A Force in Popular Culture (Columns)
  24. Garbage: Not Your Kind of People (Reviews)
  25. The Walkmen: Heaven (Reviews)
  26. The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
  27. Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
  28. 'People's Pornography': The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture (Reviews)
  29. Feeling '80s Spirit: Post-Hardcore Punk for the Plastic Generation (Columns)
  30. Various Artists: Occupy This Album (Reviews)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.