If we agree that as Therapy? put it “happy people have no stories”, then “Happy People” by Greer is three minutes of nothing.
You can forget that, because it is clear from the three minutes it is with us, that “…People” is the work of people that have very clear narrative indeed.
“All the happy people, say, but they don’t say what’s in-between” goes the hook of the track, and Josiah, the bands vocalist, has a way of delivering the song that suggests the thought: if Puppy were a power pop band, or at the very least, if Dinosaur Pile-up were going for college radio in the US, then Greer are that.
There’s a shimmering 60s pop thing going on in “Little Echo” and a sweetness in the harmonies, and there’s a little keyboard melody that seeps into the consciousness.
That’s what the EP does, actually. It works in brilliant subtleties. Take “Way Out” which jangles along like a 90s alt rocker, but explodes into a chorus, a powerful one too, and if “Connect The Dots” is initially built around a drumbeat from Lucas (like Cher, these boys aren’t arsed with surnames) then it soon turns into something that sounds like Elliot Smith playing rock n roll.
It sounds sonically superb too, and credit for that must go to John Congleton. The press release calls him a studio vet. Crikey, nip on Wiki and have a look if there’s a band he hasn’t worked with. In short, he can clearly spot talent. Here are Greer then, as it were.
They are a quirky little outfit who don’t really fit in. Except to say, In a world of brash and bombast, meet the opposite.
Greer are like one of those people who doesn’t say much at all, but when they do it always makes you think. At first, you’ll think this a pleasant enough EP, give it time though (and its only 12 minutes long, you can spare it a couple of listens) and its full scope and excellence will shine through.
Rating 8/10
