HABISTAT REVIEWS:
Navigating
Long Island’s quintuplet Taking Back Sunday uncharacteristically rely solely on strings in the opening track, “Preface” to provide the melancholic tone of their sixth studio album, “Happiness Is”. The dissonant strings bend to and fro like an eerie out-of-tune music box to create this moody ambience. The album gives you the feeling of tip-toeing through an abandoned house in uncanny suspense. The string element in “Preface” aptly introduces the first full-length track “Flicker Fade.” The belting out of front man, Adam Lazzara’s voice continues the emotionally intoxicating effect. “Happiness Is” is a contradiction as the album consists of minor chords and somber musings mixed with string interludes throughout. Only a couple songs could scarcely be considered upbeat as TBS mostly deliver ambient, downtrodden songs. In spite of this melancholy feel, “Happiness Is” becomes thoughtfully lyrical and instrumentally intricate and kind of paradoxically creates a satisfying, dare I say “happy” effect.
Perhaps TBS actually hit the nail on the head in their use of moody elements in an album title that seems contradictory. Thus “Happiness Is” is the interworking of pursuing happiness; one must experience a multitude of emotion, positive and negative, that all embody this allusive feeling. Lazzara comments on working on TBS’ most recent album; “At the time of writing our sixth studio album, I had just become a father, and my world completely changed. “Happiness Is” is sort of a tribute to how we navigate our emotions.” This is clear throughout the record as each song has a distinct emotional attachment. The strings seen in the opening “preface” are strung throughout much of the album to create more of a visceral response.
Adam Lazzara is known for writing songs about the facets of relationships and interpersonal dilemmas in his five other albums he’s made with Taking Back Sunday. “Happiness Is”, would be the result of mashing all of the other previous albums into an alt. rock stew; the creation being a very mature, poignant record riddled with hints of TBS’s roots but having a poppy new seasoning. The album is so refreshing because songs are actually woven together to describe a bigger concept that goes beyond a relationship status. Take “Flicker Fade” and “Nothing at All”, both incorporate strong, thoughtful musings of attaching a sense of purpose to life. The root of TBS is still present in other songs. Adam Lazzara takes relationship facets and spin them to this theme as in the tracks “It Takes More” and “Like You Do”. Lazzara writes in “They Don’t Have Any Friends”, “It didn’t make you happy, it didn’t make you anything at all, and I’m not angry, I’m not anything at all” Relationships provide the catalyst in a lot of people to contemplate their own introspective thoughts and meaning that contribute to happiness.
Lazzara has matured over 12 years that has seen a rotation of various band mates. The original line up, which broke up after the release of their debut album in 2004 got back together in 2011 and have seen release of two albums; their self-titled 5th album, and the brand new “happiness is. The musical-bandmates game that TBS has been playing for almost ten years is reflected by how distinct each album is. Still, the band’s live performances has gained an impressive reputation influenced by Lazzara’s trademark mic tricks and TBS’ dedication to giving a great concert.
Ultimately, as Adam Lazzara’s lyrical presence accompanies these minor chords and dissonant interludes, the moody ambience induces a sense of satisfaction and contentment. Such is the influence in “Flicker Fade” that the vicarious strings and Adam’s belting-out of raw emotion sustain this effect. Would it not be appropriate to explore a wide array of emotions when considering what constitutes “happiness”? Perhaps by examining what constitutes the contrary (i.e. unhappiness) would one interpret what, then, would make him happy? When the final strings resolve in an ambient fade, one feels the force of a cavalcade of emotions; perhaps that is the definition of happy.
Long Island’s quintuplet Taking Back Sunday uncharacteristically rely solely on strings in the opening track, “Preface” to provide the melancholic tone of their sixth studio album, “Happiness Is”. The dissonant strings bend to and fro like an eerie out-of-tune music box to create this moody ambience. The album gives you the feeling of tip-toeing through an abandoned house in uncanny suspense. The string element in “Preface” aptly introduces the first full-length track “Flicker Fade.” The belting out of front man, Adam Lazzara’s voice continues the emotionally intoxicating effect. “Happiness Is” is a contradiction as the album consists of minor chords and somber musings mixed with string interludes throughout. Only a couple songs could scarcely be considered upbeat as TBS mostly deliver ambient, downtrodden songs. In spite of this melancholy feel, “Happiness Is” becomes thoughtfully lyrical and instrumentally intricate and kind of paradoxically creates a satisfying, dare I say “happy” effect.
Perhaps TBS actually hit the nail on the head in their use of moody elements in an album title that seems contradictory. Thus “Happiness Is” is the interworking of pursuing happiness; one must experience a multitude of emotion, positive and negative, that all embody this allusive feeling. Lazzara comments on working on TBS’ most recent album; “At the time of writing our sixth studio album, I had just become a father, and my world completely changed. “Happiness Is” is sort of a tribute to how we navigate our emotions.” This is clear throughout the record as each song has a distinct emotional attachment. The strings seen in the opening “preface” are strung throughout much of the album to create more of a visceral response.
Adam Lazzara is known for writing songs about the facets of relationships and interpersonal dilemmas in his five other albums he’s made with Taking Back Sunday. “Happiness Is”, would be the result of mashing all of the other previous albums into an alt. rock stew; the creation being a very mature, poignant record riddled with hints of TBS’s roots but having a poppy new seasoning. The album is so refreshing because songs are actually woven together to describe a bigger concept that goes beyond a relationship status. Take “Flicker Fade” and “Nothing at All”, both incorporate strong, thoughtful musings of attaching a sense of purpose to life. The root of TBS is still present in other songs. Adam Lazzara takes relationship facets and spin them to this theme as in the tracks “It Takes More” and “Like You Do”. Lazzara writes in “They Don’t Have Any Friends”, “It didn’t make you happy, it didn’t make you anything at all, and I’m not angry, I’m not anything at all” Relationships provide the catalyst in a lot of people to contemplate their own introspective thoughts and meaning that contribute to happiness.
Lazzara has matured over 12 years that has seen a rotation of various band mates. The original line up, which broke up after the release of their debut album in 2004 got back together in 2011 and have seen release of two albums; their self-titled 5th album, and the brand new “happiness is. The musical-bandmates game that TBS has been playing for almost ten years is reflected by how distinct each album is. Still, the band’s live performances has gained an impressive reputation influenced by Lazzara’s trademark mic tricks and TBS’ dedication to giving a great concert.
Ultimately, as Adam Lazzara’s lyrical presence accompanies these minor chords and dissonant interludes, the moody ambience induces a sense of satisfaction and contentment. Such is the influence in “Flicker Fade” that the vicarious strings and Adam’s belting-out of raw emotion sustain this effect. Would it not be appropriate to explore a wide array of emotions when considering what constitutes “happiness”? Perhaps by examining what constitutes the contrary (i.e. unhappiness) would one interpret what, then, would make him happy? When the final strings resolve in an ambient fade, one feels the force of a cavalcade of emotions; perhaps that is the definition of happy.