HAPPY FOR REAL

While the 90s are currently celebrating their revival in pop culture and the codes of that decade are also being flirted with musically, Happy for Real are jumping into the indie phase shortly after the millennium with their sound. The Chur combo around Olivia Virgolin and Marcus Petendi may have still been in primary school at the time, but they still manage to bring the legacy of Bloc Party and co. into the present day like hardly any other local group. After a musical discovery phase last year, their tracks in “desperate art” are edgier and less pleasing. The lead single “News” also reflects this new self-confidence in the lyrics, when Virgolin and Petendi sing in canon: “nothing left to prove”.

At the same time, they deal with current issues of their generation in their debut EP. Tracks such as “Limerence” and “Phony” deal with disorientation and questions about belonging. Between driving guitars and alternating vocals, the two create hymns for those who have lost their way, moving between departure and lethargy.