Album Review – "Happy People", Peace

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Peace are a band renowned for their wild live performances and hard work, so it’s no surprise that that they’re already onto album #2. ‘Happy People’ is a statement of the band’s influences and their experimentation with new sounds since their 2013 debut ‘In Love’, and I think it’s a really sophisticated album.

The album kicks off with ‘O You’, a track which to me sounds like it reflects on the musical styles of the ‘60s era. The whole album actually gives me a Beatles-y vibe, but this song especially. You can really hear Peace’s influences, more than you could on their previous album and the track’s defining catchy riff makes it a cracking opening track to set the tone of the rest of the album. Track 4 on the album, ‘Perfect Skin’, is one of my favourites as it’s catchy and doesn’t require much attention when you listen to it. When I saw this track at Peace’s album launch in Kingston it was obviously a stand-out crowd-pleaser so I reckon this will be one to watch out for at festivals this summer.

The album’s title track, ‘Happy People’, takes a slightly slower melody with a brilliant bassline and layered guitars. It’s the kind if track that gives you goosebumps when you see it live and really listen to the lyrics. I personally feel like ‘Happy People’ is a beautiful choice for a title track and probably deserves more credit than it gets on this album.

If I’m being completely honest, ‘Someday’, a track nestled in the middle of the album, really doesn’t appeal to me. It’s the slowest song on the album and the start of it somehow reminds me of something that a band such as Green Day would write (really not good in my eyes). To be fair, the chorus of the song is actually not too bad and the track was surprisingly beautiful live. It’s the most acoustic track I’ve ever heard from Peace, but I must say that I don’t see how this track could ever match up to other slower offerings from the band such as the beautiful ‘California Daze’ or ‘Float Forever’.

‘I’m A Girl’ is the heaviest track that Peace have ever put out and it’s bold, brash nature and carefree lyrics really stand out on the album. Whilst it’s tailored for crowds and rowdy mosh pits (I can’t wait to rock out to this one at festivals!), ‘I’m A Girl’ makes the biggest statement on the album for me, in terms of things I’ve never heard from the band before and how they are put together in a track. This track outlines the album’s new sound and hopefully is an omen for things to come.

‘Happy People’ is closed with ‘World Pleasure’ which is a track that I feel is one of Peace’s most defining tracks to date, alongside other older tracks such as ‘Bloodshake’ and ‘Follow Baby’. It’s 6 minutes and 23 seconds of brilliant layered guitars and retro vibes and THAT bassline. The way the bass takes the lead in this track is something I’d love to see more from Peace, and other bands in their music. For me, this is the best track on the album by a mile!

Overall, ‘Happy People’ is a great offering from Peace as it shows changes in the way the band are composing their songs and mixing their styles – it’s in no way samey to their other albums like so many are. Though I have to say that ‘Happy People’, whilst great, still has not lived up to Peace’s first EP, ‘Delicious’, which is one of my all-time favourite pieces of music. Though, of course I will still have ‘Happy People’ on a loop for the foreseeable future. More tracks like ‘World Pleasure’ please, Peace!

~ Ceri-Ann Hughes