Poor Rich Ones ~ Happy Happy Happy

Rec 90/Five One Inc.

Some people just can’t seem to get enough of those sensitive, mopey Euroboys. Radiohead, their impostors Travis, Coldplay, Geneva… there’s a zillion of them, and likely no stopping them. Poor Rich Ones are in the ranks; these narcoleptic popsters took home a Spellemannsprisen (the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy) three years ago for their second album, From the Makers of Ozium, and made quite an impression at last year’s SXSW music conference.

Lead singer William’s (the band eschews last names) unrelenting falsetto glides atop circular song structures filled with passages of chunky electric guitar, sedate rhythms, and snippets of strings and keyboards. Full-bodied nuggets such as the urgent dream of "May Queen" rest comfortably alongside the more pastoral moments of the airy and appropriately titled "New Lullaby." While William’s voice sounds forced and unnatural at times to the point of becoming irritating, overall, Happy is a well-crafted, swooning soundtrack for all those lovelorn lads and lasses. –Scott D. Lewis

 

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