Album Review :: Happy Accidents - Everything But The Here And Now

Album

Happy Accidents

Everything But The Here And Now

February 16 2018 (Alcopop! Records) 

7/10

Words: Richard Cobb

The second album from London indie trio Happy Accident sees them playing it a bit less safe and flying into the wind in a new direction. The band have opted to share vocal duties for large parts of this album, with drummer Phoebe Cross stepping up to join guitarist Rich Mandell in vocal duties for the first time.

This instantly sets ‘Everything But The Here And Now’ apart from its predecessor, 2016’s ‘You Might Be Right’ where Rich was on vocals throughout.

With a repeated line of “meet me by the cemetery” you’d be forgiven for thinking the opening track ‘Nunhead’ was penned by Morrissey late one Sunday evening after the crushing realisation that he’d left strawberry Pop Tarts off his Sunday shopping list, but don’t let the lyrics dissuade you, this is much more uplifting than that with its warm and fuzzy synth lines underpinning the song.

‘Wait It Out’ does the exact opposite as its title suggests as it bursts into life straight away. This one reminded me a bit of early Tokyo Police Club, with the same urgency and fluidity to the song. There’s also a bit of a shoegaze feel with the repeated guitar lines layered in the track. It sounds a bit like krautrock with the lights on.

There’s a few parts on the album that aren’t as easy listening. On ‘A Better Plan’, for example, the cymbals sound like smashing glass for large parts of the three minutes which overpower the rest of the mix a bit; while the opening of ‘Text Me When You’re Home’ reminded me of the music they play in a soap when someone’s been prematurely dumped after a one night stand, or a family have just found out their beloved Rover the dog’s broken his leg when chasing rabbits again. It adds a bit of diversity to the album, but it doesn’t live up to the earlier peaks.

Ending on a triumphant high, ‘Sink’ is a slow burner, but a real triumph which captures the band at their very best and chillingly leaves the vocals to fade out at the end which adds a good bit of atmosphere and is a nice end point to the record.

This album is all about the second listen, had I not given it another spin, my thoughts would have been quite a lot different, but there’s definitely layers to explore here and the band’s risk taking on here seems to have paid off to equal a strong and assured second album.