Jolly
The Audio Guide to Happiness (part II)

Are you one that is looking for happiness? Jolly good then if you are because here is the second part to the audio guide to that thing, it follows the first part which saw light of day in 2011 and was brilliant according to some (I haven’t heard it even though the narrator in the opening track says I should). And this band seems to have a thing for funny titles as their debut album was named Forty-Six Minutes, Twelve Seconds of Music, these guys seems clearly to be in my league of characters. Sometimes you are fortunate to write for a zine like this as you are introduced to all these fun bands and characters. But what about this audio guide then, does it work?

Well, you can say that it works for the band at least, considering how they had their studio that was in one of the band members’ house destroyed in the recent hurricane called Sandy. They were happy as they had this guide to lean on (sort of), but it is a testament to what to the benefit of being happy. Their music is happy at times, less so at other times but it leads up to being happy in the end. It is a complex album in that it is quite difficult to describe due to the varied nature of the songs, but it is not complex in regards to it being a showcase of instrumental virtuosity but rather as I said in the structuring of the album itself. The production is impressive as well and you have to say that it is a quality production.

It is also a very good album in all regards and no real weaknesses just some smaller niggles that doesn’t really need to be mentioned either. The songs are all good but there are three that stands out as being even better, they are You Against the World, While We Slept in Burning Shades and the ending track called The Grand Utopia, all of these are brilliant. And as I said the album is really good, it also is successful in the regard that it makes you happier, even I as a morose kind of guy have looked at things a bit more positive after listening a few times to this album so maybe it really is an audio guide to happiness.

More isn’t really needed to be said about this album, if you like your music sophisticated and thought provoking then you’ll have something to take a close look at here. I really like this album and was very close to awarding it a higher rating than I eventually ended up giving it, I must also say that it is one of the best albums so far this year it is a jolly good one to make fun on words. So, if you are looking to be a little bit happier, then here you have the perfect audio guide for that in this release.

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