Name: UV-TV - Happy - New LP
SKU: 297560

"NYC via Gainesville garage-rock band UV-TV play music that is rending, playful, and energizing. We’ve been big fans of them since their stellar dual 2017 releases, even going so far as to name them one of the best new bands of 2017. Thankfully, they’ve now made their grand return with their sophomore record, HAPPY."

UV-TV is an effortless blend of fuzzy shoegaze, melodic hooks, and driving instrumentals. Born out of Gainesville, Florida’s thriving DIY scene in 2015, the band put out an excellent debut LP, Glass, in 2017 and spent last year relocating to New York City. Their move has brought a new record with cleaner production and a personal, serious release about moving on. Happy will be out July 19 but you can stream it in full below.

“For this record, we really wanted to make something different and cleaner than our past two records. We rented a studio and had our buddy Neil help with engineering instead of recording it ourselves on a four-track in a bedroom. Happy was mixed by Jonathan Nunez of Torche and mastered by Jonathan Schenke here in NYC,” guitarist and singer Ian Bernacett shares. “I was listening to a lot of Neil Young stuff like On the Beach and Rust Never Sleeps. I was watching all of these live videos of Echo & the Bunnymen playing Rockpalast and Europe on YouTube in the early ’80s. I think they’re the best live band ever and kinda what I wanted our band to be like live. Lyrically the songs on Happy reference change and growing up a lot. We were planning a move to NYC while recording it. I feel like that kind of longing for something new or different is very present in the record. All in all, I think Happy is a testament to our time spent living in Florida and a time capsule of the bands first four years.

------------------------------

Queens, New York by-way-of Gainesville, Florida band UV-TV have returned with their sophomore LP, Happy. It was released this week on Deranged Records, and it’s one of the best records to come out in 2019 yet.

You know who originally told me about this band was Paul Court from The Primitives. UV-TV had covered their punk pop classic “Really Stupid” on an excellent EP released on Stewart Anderson and Jen Turrell’s Emotional Response imprint.

I previously described them as Tiger Trap on Adderall, but this new LP is more like “Galore” era Primitives, as it’s steeped in some shoegaze elements. I’m quite particular about the genre, in that I need there to be teeth and melody beyond the dreamy vocals and reverb. This record has got it in spades. It’s just so well informed by diy traditions, it hits that nostalgic sweet spot but it also sounds modern. UV-TV have done their homework.

Drummer Ryan Hopewell is one of the best drummers going. He’s busy but precise and bangy, and it really elevates the music and makes them sound unique. Rose Vastola (Bass, Vox) and Ian Bernacett (Guitar, Vox) have spent the last year since relocating to NYC working on this record. I was lucky to get an advanced earful, and couldn’t wait to share the track “Inside Out” with everyone.

When I saw the title I thought I might be in for a Mighty Lemon Drops cover, but it’s an original and it’s sparkling and magnificent with a payoff at the end when the song does a melodic change that brings to mind the Mary Chain with the lyric “You’re always Upside Down, I’m always Inside Out”. So check it out and let’s get Happy!