The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Show reviews
    • Interviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Cannes
      • Sundance London
      • Venice
      • London
  • Music
    • Live music
    • Album reviews
    • Interviews
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
    • Fringe
    • Vault Festival
    • Interviews
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Interviews
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join the team
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Culture Music Album reviews

Happy Jawbone Family Band – Happy Jawbone Family Band

Happy Jawbone Family Band – Happy Jawbone Family Band | Album review
29th August 2013
Avatar photo
Gemma Whitfield
Avatar
Gemma Whitfield
29 August 2013

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.

★★★★★

Gemma Whitfield

Happy Jawbone Family Band is released on 14th October 2013. For further information or to order the album visit Happy Jawbone Family Band’s website here.  

Listen to Everybody Knows About Daddy here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Album reviews

The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds

★★★★★
Christopher Connor
Read More

The Streets – The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Ed Sheeran – Autumn Variations

★★★★★
Emily Downie
Read More

Kylie Minogue – Tension

★★★★★
Benedetta Mancusi
Read More

Samantha Urbani – Showing Up

★★★★★
Christopher Connor
Read More

The National – Laugh Track

★★★★★
Christopher Connor
Read More

Thirty Seconds to Mars – It’s the End of the World but It’s a Beautiful Day

★★★★★
Kirst Hubbard
Read More

Olivia Rodrigo – Guts

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More

Romy – Mid Air

★★★★★
Christopher Connor
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Your Christmas or Mine 2
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Earth Mama
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Homecoming at the Young Vic
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor at Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Nutcracker at the Turbine Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Anselm
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor at Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Nutcracker at the Turbine Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Homecoming at the Young Vic
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Wonka
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Anselm
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Homecoming at the Young Vic
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor at Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Nutcracker at the Turbine Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Wonka
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
  • Contact us
  • Join the team
  • Subscribe to the mailing list
  • Support us
  • Writing for The Upcoming

Copyright © 2011-2023 FL Media