Happy Jawbone Family Band – Happy Jawbone Family Band

Vermont folk rockers Happy Jawbone Family Band are set to release their first full-length album recorded with Jarvis Taverniere later this year – and it’s one that’s sure to blow you away. Brought to us by Mexican Summer, the band has been compared to Pink Floyd and The Beatles, and it’s immediately apparent why. As Pitchfork has commented, there’s been no shortage of blues-inflected garage rock in recent years, but Happy Jawbone Family Band, who all met at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, use this template to create their own mythical world.

It’s not just the binding together of folk, indie and pop genres that makes this group so special – it’s what they do with it, building sentiments and challenging preconceptions with song topics ranging from finding your father in a dress, to the underlying meanings of children’s fairytales, as explored in the album’s Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. Lead single Everybody Knows about Daddy is filled with the same energy and sense of humour featured in their earlier releases from Broom. The childlike charm and infectious jocularity radiating throughout this song are a shining examples of what makes the band so loveable. 

Third track D-R-E-A-M-I-N, is a particularly charming number with elements reminiscent of 60s psychedelic rock: it’s trippy and surreal, yet poppy and soulful. Voices softly coo in a carefree daze, with “D-R-E-A-M-I-N, dreamin’ my life away” making for an endearing hook. Think, Animal Collective meets The Beatles, meets The Strokes.

Mexican Summer has described the psyche-folkers’ songs as “monuments to happier endings resulting from imperfect circumstances, steered by their history and their placement on the globe” –  a distinct vibe that radiates from their new album and enchants the listener. Hear it for yourself and be truly charmed by the utopian world that is Happy Jawbone Family Band.

Verdict:  ★★★★★

Gemma Whitfield

Happy Jawbone Family Band is released on 14^th October, but you can pre-order the album here.  

Listen to Everybody Knows About Daddy here: