You know your band has made it these days when you have a song on an Apple commercial. You could say they are pretty good at picking songs that will be stuck in your head for days, so it only seems fitting that their latest iPad commercial features a Grouplove song.
Grouplove have been on the fast track since becoming a band in 2009. Their first self titled EP came out last year on Canvasback Records and paved the way for their first album, which carried over some of the best songs of that EP.
Never Trust A Happy Song isn’t a consistent album on the first couple of listens. It seems scattered with different vocals, different instruments and at times they sound like a different band from song to song. The fact that they can’t be nailed down is what really makes this album great. One moment you’re hearing something intoxicatingly fun, light hearted and poppy liked “Naked Kids” or “Tongue Tied,” and the next your in the middle of the slow moving aptly titled “Slow” or the banjo driven “Cruel and Beautiful World.” Whatever the case they have each song perfected and have woven them together with purpose.
It’s hard to trust something that is one dimensional. Grouplove have made it possible to trust a happy song because they show you that they aren’t one dimensional at all. They can counter “Naked Kids” and the sha-la-la’s of “Lovely Cup” with something equally as catchy and less on the happy pop side with “Betty’s a Bombshell.” It’s all about the counterbalance. The savory to the sweet and Grouplove have it all under control on this album.
