Circa Waves recently shared a brand-new EP entitled ‘Sadder, Happier‘. The collection is compiled from an acoustic rendition of the track, “Sad Happy“, and four outtakes from their latest studio album recorded at frontman Kieran Shudall’s home studio The Boxroom.
It seems like the horrible pandemic of coronavirus cannot stop the four lads from Liverpool from giving us joy with their music. The ‘Sadder, Happier‘ EP is the second drop by them this year, following the release of the fourth studio album ‘Sad Happy‘.
This freshly released compilation is a surprise drop that Shudall wanted to “keep [the music] out there at a time when people need it more than ever.” He told NME that the new EP was intended to give “a bit of sanity and a release“.
“Evidently I was quite pissed off while writing these songs. Lyrically it’s a bit more disenfranchised and talks about my issues with society, and it’s more self-deprecation of me being like ‘I’m annoyed at myself, I wish I was better’. But it’s cathartic, it’s all good for the soul,” he explained how the EP was an “angry” work.
In addition to the acoustic version of “Sad Happy” that Shudall made for fans to experience the “bare bones” beginning of it, there are four new never-heard-before tunes: “Gun in My Hand“, “The Only One Who Lets Me In“, “Sugar Side“, and “Anti Social Anxiety“. These tracks showcase the band’s incredible talent in creating genre-bending music and writing songs with such high sentiment alongside subtle social comments.
Since 2019, the Liverpudlian group has been impressively unstoppable. Back in April 2019, they dropped ‘What’s It Like Over There?‘, the third studio album that was the band’s departure from their guitar-based rock signature for an experiment on pop music and piano sound. The LP was met with moderate success from singles like “Movies” and “Times Won’t Change Me” while receiving mixed reviews from critics.
Less than a year after the third album, the “T-shirt Weather” hitmaker rushed out and unveiled ‘Sad Happy‘, the two-part fourth album which has become their most commercially successful and critically acclaimed to date. The album hit number four on the UK Albums Chart and spawned singles like the title track, “Jacqueline“, and “Move to San Francisco“.
‘Sadder, Happier‘ is the second time the band has revealed a follow-up to the original record. After the release of ‘What’s It Like Over There?‘, they shared the ‘What’s That Left Over There?‘ EP, consisting of a piano version of two tracks from the LP and two unreleased tracks.
In the endless list of artists forced to cancel and postpone their tours due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Circa Waves are also one who cannot possibly avoid such ill fate. They were scheduled for the UK tour in support of the ‘Sad Happy‘ LP in March, but they have pushed back all dates to September. See the post below for the rescheduled dates and visit their official site for tickets.
