Let's Buy Happiness

Newcastle quintet Let’s Buy Happiness‘s aching, ”Run” provides a fine example of a video enriching an already excellent song.

On its own, “Run” subtly bleeds, focusing attention on singer Sarah Hall wistful, crystal vocals. The accompanying video adds anxious new dimension, shadowy and obtuse, it’s the sort of visual treatment that combines a distinctive style with enough memorable images to embed itself within the song’s fabric (particularly if it’s your first time hearing “Run”). Ambiguous enough to leave room for plenty of viewer speculation, but undeniable in its creation of melancholy, “Run” is a striking ode to sadness.
- Pigeons and Planes.Com

Let’s Buy happiness first grabbed our attention back in 2011 when they released the stunning singles ‘Wolves’, ‘Fast Fast’ and ‘Dirty Lakes’. Having built a reputation as one of the North East’s most promising young bands, they were quickly dragged out of the pub circuit and into Maida Vale studios by the BBC. Unbelievably, they played Glastonbury’s prestigious John Peel Stage alongside Foals, Florence and The XX within a year of their first gig. Mumford and Sons were also on the stage, but don’t blame that on Let’s Buy Happiness.

Today’s Track of the day is just a taster of their new album, ‘Chants for Friends’, which has fans and critics alike foaming at the mouth. Called ‘Run’, this is an open door into the slower, softer and more sensual side of the band.

Despite its delicacy, it’s an incredibly powerful track in which lead singer Sarah Hall uses her angelic vocals to carry us high above the guitars and percussion. Whilst not as fast or upbeat as their previous releases, it’s thoughtfully composed and captures the emotion of a broken relationship beautifully. Whereas ‘Fast Fast’ or ‘Dirty Lakes’ pulls you from your seat and forces you to dance, ‘Run’ forces you to reflect. Sorry if this is too deep for a Saturday.

It’s clear from listening to the song that the band have spent the past couple of years sharpening their sound and shaking the nerves out of their performances. Which is just as well because the release of ‘Chants for Friends’ and an ongoing October tour promises to fully launch them into the mainstream. If ‘Run’ isn’t your cup of tea then find some enjoyment in their other tracks because you’ll be hearing a lot more of them over the coming years.

Jason Scott - Far Out Magazine

The indie five-piece burst onto the live-circuit scene amidst a gaggle of other fuzzy guitar based bands and thrilled many with their debut track ‘Six Wolves’.

Eagerly anticipated by many, ‘Run’ represents their growth as a collection and is a diverse sway from the profound melancholic and harder sound which is present in their new recordings.

Lead vocalist Sarah Hall is the first to admit that it’s taken the band four years to form music the way they want it.

Let’s Buy Happiness embark on a headline tour of the UK, kicking
things off in their hometown of Newcastle on the 4th, before venturing
to Mexico for further dates.


Words: Shane Hawkins

Director/Photographer: Ian West

Editor: Neil Burdess

Conception / Creative Director: Sarah Hall

Produced by Jukebox Films
- Wonderland Magazine

Ruminating and brooding, Run is a glimpse into Let’s Buy Happiness’ desperately awaited debut album Chants For Friends. The Newcastle quintet have slowly perfected their sound and artistic vision into what we can now hear, starting from their 2010 debut single Six Wolves. Run is a blissfully poignant and powerful piece, a grimaced smile amongst bittersweet heartache and frustration. Vocalist Sarah Hall is drenched in lovely opera house reverb, vying for position alongside a thoroughly deep composition within a whirlpool of jagged guitar and splintered percussion, a sound that compliments the song’s sentiments perfectly.

Hall has commented on Run, claiming that it “was about that person you may know, friend or family, who has an inability to face up to truths and their destructive behaviours. I’ve seen this happen in my life & other peoples relationships but it isn’t about a specific person.”

Let’s Buy Happiness are set to play a full UK tour this October, starting with a double stint at their hometown Newcastle: - Planet Notion

Sarah Hall (vocals), James Hall (guitar/keys), Graeme Martin (guitars), Mark Brown (bass) and James King (drums), of the alternative rock quintet Let's Buy Happiness, started their career at a small pub in Newcastle, England. Within a year, the band found itself sharing the stage with Foals, Florence and the Machine, The xx, and Mumford and Sons at the 2010 Glastonbury Festival. Their single "Dirty Lakes" made it on to Spotify's Songs of 2011 list. After this career crescendo, the band took time to produce their debut album, the forthcoming Chants for Friends. "The album took four years to form in the way we wanted it to," says vocalist Sarah Hall. "It's inspirations vary from track to track as my thoughts and opinions have drifted over time, and together it works a collection of moments about a range of topics, from atoms to building a home."
- Interview Magazine

It’s always special when a gig feels like a homecoming celebration. Especially when the band are from 300 miles away. When Let’s Buy Happiness play Hoxton Bar & Kitchen the vibe is certainly built upon a bunch of what can only be described as good things – intimate, energetic, expansive and celebratory. Having built a reputation as one of the North East’s finest band, tonight we are treating to a blistering performance. Clusters of doleful and atmospheric melodies unfurl across the stage, their lingering and earnest sound always direct, and dazzlingly so. Sharply executed, despite the myriad sonics and textures, Let’s Buy Happiness never make a superfluous sound. From 2011’s Six Wolves to latest track Run, from forthcoming album Chants For Friends, their live show is something weighty and winsome. Delicate acoustic strums vie with the dramatic and textured drums, all underpinning Sarah’s angelic, ethereal and yet powerful vocals. There’s no denying that there is a slightly melancholic twinge to their tunes with hints of grit and urban reality married to the a subtle sway of ghostly transience and delicate yet forthright beauty. Live, tonight and always, there is a sense of invigoration that make the experience dynamic and vital, the watery layers and solid chords riff through to an open sky of opportunity. In this back room in Hoxton Let’s Buy Happiness raise the bar and position themselves as not only one of the North East’s best bands, but the country’s. - London In Stereo / 07 October 2013

Let’s Buy Happiness

To use the word “ethereal” is to offer yourself as a sacrifice to the Gods of the Music Journo Cliché. Unfortunately, if one looks at the definition of “ethereal”- 1: extremely light or delicate in way which seems to be not of this world, or 2: heavenly/spiritual- then it is indeed perfect for Let’s Buy Happiness.

They’ve actually been around since 2010, but with new single “Run” have really snagged my attention. With a debut album early next year, nationwide headlining tour in October (not to mention a romp round Mexico after that) expect big things and swathes of loveliness from the indie quintet. - Sabotage Times / September 2013

Tyneside five piece ‘Let’s Buy Happiness’ have been causing a bit of a stir over the last 12 months having notched up supports with the likes of Primal Scream, The Temper Trap and Vivian Girls as well as being lauded by the likes of Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq and Rod Da Bank.

As we enter the Lexington it’s apparent that others have also been paying attention as we struggle to shuffle off the stairs into the upstairs room which is absolutely rammed a full 30 minutes before the band are due to take the stage.

As the troupe appear on stage, vocalist Sarah Hall’s angelic fragile vocal erupts from her tiny frame and sweeps around the room, backed up by some supremely delay drenched guitar from brother James, the audience is immediately captivated in a 30 minute euphoric trance.

Sarah’s vocals are the main focal point around which the band’s soundscape of intricate, layered guitars and a killer combo of bass and drums build upon.

What sets LBH above and apart from many of their contemporaries is their ability to produce angular leftfield pop songs that maintain strong melody.

By the end of the set there is little doubt why so many have headed to North London on this balmy autumn night. There is only positivity afoot for LBH if they continue to produce these types of performances and, if given the freedom to develop their sound as they have been doing, they’ll be selling out venues twice the size of The Lexington in 2013. - The Great Escape - Live Review / Let's Buy Happiness

Let's Buy Happiness (9.15-9.45, Sunday Best Stage - Defectors Weld)

Another of the FG tips for 2011, it's been a while since we saw their majestic eighties soundscapes live. But we very much enjoyed their
live efforts so can heartily recommend you explore their sounds at Bushstock. - Faded Glamour.co.uk / Communion Music - Bushstock Festival - 02 June 2012

DiS' editor compiles a mixture of tracks (including a special premiere!), some mixes (one of which was made especially for you DiS readers) and a selection of things that have cropped up in his social feeds and inbox this week, for you to have a listen to over the weekend...

LET'S BUY HAPPINESS
Let's kick things off with a special premiere of the forthcoming single by I-can't-believe-they're-not-far-bigger-yet new band from the North East of England Let's Buy Happiness (pictured, above). This is their forthcoming single, entitled 'Works Better on Paper' and its a gentle song that flits in the same sort of doe-eyed space as The Sundays. Singer Sarah Hall sounds a little bit like a sleepy Regina Spektor backed by a slightly sozzled Antlers. It's a lush slice of uplifting melancholy and it's out on June 11th via Ghost Arc. For upcoming live dates and more visit letsbuyhappiness.com. Oh, and if you're wondering just how you go about buying happiness, this month's Wired has the answer.
- Drowned In Sound - Words by Sean Adams (Editor)

Recording engineered by Ian Grimble and Richard Matthews of Communion Music at 2KHz, Crouch End, London
- Words by Sean Moeller / Illustration by Johnnie Cluney

Over on the New Bands Stage dreamy Geordies Lets Buy Happiness are about to start. They’re a 5 piece with sweet female vocals a little reminiscent of Bjork over the top of shoegazeque guitars, and are one of the reasons I’m here today, and they don’t disappoint, they deliver a well received set to the largely roasting seated crowd of around 1200 or so.
- Louder Than War / Posted on July 24, 2012 by Alex Staszko

Tonight's first stop brings me to Mojo and its humourously 'rock 'n' roll' interior, catching indie-pop startups Let's Buy Happiness.
It's been a while since I've truly enjoyed laid-back, fairly stripped down music, but the quintet carve out some truly stunning moments.
As if they've raided through their older sibling's cd collection, Let's Buy Happiness' sum of influences range from the early 80s all the way up to now, packaged neatly to create something both new and nostalgic.
Bits of the Cure, Sunny Day Real Estate, Modest Mouse, Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Shins ring out, and maybe giving a bit back to scouse indie, Let's Buy Happiness are a real gem for the teenage romantic.
- Liverpool Echo.co.uk

To celebrate the release of their latest single, 'Works Better On Paper', Let’s Buy Happiness have put together a lovely playlist for us. Check that out below the player for the single/tour dates, and make sure you explore their music by heading to letsbuyhappiness.com. - The 405.com

It's been a while since one of my favourite UK bands Let's Buy Happiness treated us to something new, but the wait is finally over, though "Works Better on Paper" won't be a new song to those who've got the five piece's debut EP 'No Hot Ashes' this new version is so absolutely luscious that it's hard to grumble.

The shimmering guitarscapes are pared back from the original version with a gentle, languid tempo and sparse, delicate instrumentation making Sarah Hall's soft, celestial vocal the main instrument and focal point. It works to perfection, magically complimenting sleepy drums and guitar effects "Works Better on Better" is just overwhelmingly beautiful, perfect for a lazy, summer's day listen (please don't go away sun)... Treat yourself below.

"Works Better on Paper" will be released June 11th via the bands own Ghost Arc Record - Just Music That I Like

We’ve previously dubbed them ‘the best new band in Britain‘ and even awarded them the much coveted (we assume) accolade of our Song Of The Year 2011. Now Tyneside quintet Let’s Buy Happiness have returned with a brand new single in the form of the quite marvelous Work’s Better On Paper. There is still no news on an EP, or an LP, but there will be an accompanying video for …Paper coming very soon. In the meantime you can stream it to your hearts content below. Pretty-much all day every day then. - Goldflake Paint

This record is a precious gem. Get it while you can. Why, you ask? Because UK's Vashti won't stay in the shadows forever, and Scrapbook will be the envy of every yippy kid on either side of the pond. The 12 songs on Vashti's self-released debut were recorded in 3 sessions. Vashti almost apologizes in the liner notes/credits for the fact that some of the styles presented on the record differ. The truth is that Scrapbook doesn't sound disjointed. Eclectic maybe, but even still, Vashti's soulful vocals weave the songs together. The collective effect of the songs makes it feel as though these songs were born out of the early 70's. Add to that that a little pop-rock happiness ("Boy In The Hat"), a few nods to Portishead meets Goldfrapp ("The Evening Arrives" and "Purely Platonic"), and a handful of predominatly acoustic ballads, and you have Scrapbook. "Window Song" is a vintagely soulful, as Vashti duets with soft horn blasts. The production all around is clean, leaving nothing to be desired, and her voice is front in the mix. After all, this is first and foremost a vocalist record, yet the musical arrangements give Scrapbook a fitting pretense to draw from. If you're in need of some new singer/songwriter music, let me highly suggest that you give Vashti a listen. Hearing Vashti is like hearing the birth of a dream, and it's to glorious effect! She is an up and coming diva with a soulfully distinctive tone. This is a great first start. - www.theblackandwhitemag.com