London-based indie rockers Happyness combine dreamy melodies that take inspiration from '90s indie outfits such as Sparklehorse and Pavement with wry insights that inform their brooding songs. As a trio, they debuted in 2014 with Weird Little Birthday, slimming down to a duo by 2020's Floatr without skimping on guitar-anchored texture.

Having known each other throughout their teens, singer/guitarist Benji Compston, singer/bassist Jonny Allan, and drummer Ash Cooper, aka Ash Kenazi, were in a variety of other bands before forming Happyness. They eventually found themselves writing music together in a studio under railway arches in Bermondsey, South London. After performances under a few different monikers, the three-piece finally settled on Happyness and set about touring the U.K. They were soon picked up by indie label Weird Smiling and entered the studio to record their debut album, Weird Little Birthday. Released in 2014, the album featured backing vocals from Saffron Le Bon. The band then signed with Bar/None Records, which reissued Weird Little Birthday in the U.S. in 2015. The following year, the five-track EP Tunnel Vision on Your Part previewed the more consistently reflective tone (and two songs) from their self-produced sophomore LP, Write In, which arrived on Bar/None and Moshi Moshi in 2017

After a brief hiatus, Happyness moved to Infinit Suds and released their third album, Floatr, in 2020. A slightly more melancholic outing affected by the political trends of the time, it saw the band pared down to the duo of Allan and Kenazi. They were joined in the studio by touring members Max Bloom (Yuck), Anna Vincent (Heavy Heart), and Scott Booker Roach (Social Contract). ~ Scott Kerr & Marcy Donelson, Rovi