Singles are wonderful things, and Seasonal Falls singles more than most. They are short, self-contained sonic worlds, bite-sized musical morsels to satisfy your musical thirst. But good as these three-minute sonic snacks are, it is when they are presented together, side by side on an album, that you can best appreciate a band’s work, and that is certainly the case with Happy Days, the latest collection of songs from Seasonal Falls.
Here, we are presented with an array of gentle and genuine songs that swirl around the borders of folk and pop and indie, ambience and accessibility, moving into one or more region to make the required sound. Albums also afford us a taste of the non-single songs, for not every song needs to have aspirations of a solo journey away from the rest of the pack. Those that don’t are just as important to an album’s overall sound and feel, able to balance and bouy up, compliment and contrast, change the mood or add to a feeling just through the correct placement in the running order.
It is clear that Seasonal Falls understands the musical dynamic that an album needs to run through, because for every meandering marvellous moment such as “Used To Be Fun”, there is a floating and atmospheric gem like “Girlfriend.” For every driving country groover like “Half-Moon”, there is the shimmering luminosity of one such as “Hey Girl!” And then there are genuinely sublime songs such as “Wish You All the Rest,” which, had Simon & Garfunkel been just starting out today, would have been knocking on the band’s door trying to secure a sale.
Seasonal Falls know how to write cool songs, and, as Happy Days also proves, they also know how to put together great albums.
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