Happy Birthday

Thomas doesn’t need to be so shy anymore; with a solid debut and complimentary bandmates, he’s comfortably found his outlet.

Happy Birthday may be bedroom lo-fi from the fuzzy sound to the scribbled cartoon cover art, the buzzing guitars to the off-kilter subject matter of the songs, but they transcend any limitations of the style (real or imagined) by writing songs that would be great no matter how they were recorded.

There's so much tunefully wild enjoyment on offer it's hard to pick highlights. [Jul 2010, p.110]

Happy Birthday displays a vast knowledge of pop’s history and mines it to great success to piece together a power pop album for now, while still referencing all the important points that came before. It’s derivative but sounds fresh, which is what rock n’ roll does best.

Thomas glues the pretty (Garbus' vocals) and ugly (his own screeching, see also: his work singing in Witch) together with fantastic melodies, at times so plentiful they bury one another.

Sonically, we’ve got a pastiche of historically catchy musical styles, with a Lou Reed touch here, a Superchunk riff there, a 10cc harmony under it all.

While this does fall in with a pretty crowded lo-fi movement going on, Happy Birthday is also an unabashed pop record unafraid to wear its grainy heart on its sleeve.

These tunes are fun and youthful, but also grown up and varied--there’s something for everyone here, whether you’re blasting this record at the park with mates or in the car on a road-trip or sitting on the beach--all you need is a little sunshine and wine (not in the car, though, please) and let Thomas, Garbus and Weisman take you to that place we all remember well (fondly or not).

Distracting at times is Thomas’s voice--he seems to take pride in being purposefully off key--but breezy opener “Girls FM” and later the low key “Eyes Music” calm his shrieking affinity and keep him just where he needs to be; melodic.

This 11-song Lp is less freak folk than freak scene, as the trio balances lo-fi guitar crunch with Chris Weisman's adenoidal vocals. [Jul 20120, p.93]