Happy Birthday's Self-Titled Sub Pop Debut: Cute & Fuzzy All The Way Through

Happy Birthday, a trio hailing from Brattleboro, Vermont, released the first single from their self-titled debut a couple weeks ago. "Girls FM" is bouncy, with a strong Pixies-circa-Surfer-Rosa feel, thanks to the ragged guitar, drummer Ruth Garbus' sweet and airy vocals, and the humming, sing-song chorus (think "Gigantic"). That head-bobbing vibe continues throughout the rest of the record. Front man Kyle Thomas' vocals are unique in that they're some of the nasaliest you'll hear and still manage to avoid being annoying. That's likely because his melodies are so blithe and breezy, usually backed by happily squealing guitars (the solo on "Subliminal Message" is flat-out rad). My only complaint here is that I want more of those melodies to get stuck in my head - they're too drowned out by a messier buzz on tracks like "Pink Strawberry Shake" and "Cracked." Happy Birthday's only been around since late 2008, though - they've got plenty of promise and time to get things just right.

Sub Pop has made the entire Happy Birthday record available for streaming on Soundcloud. Listen for yourself!

happy birthday by subpop