Immediately after forming in 2015, fuzzy trio UV-TV began finding their sound, one that was abrasive and angsty while still embracing shadowy melodies. Like the best of the early Slumberland roster or certain C-86 bands, UV-TV buried pop songs under jittery, punky blasts and added disorienting shoegaze ambience to the mix at times just to throw the equation off balance. Their 2017 debut Glass was recorded in an unused train station with decidedly lo-fi equipment, adding an even murkier quality to their toothy but hazy sound. Between their first album and 2019’s Happy, the band relocated from Gainesville Florida to New York. The major life shift of that transition isn’t directly apparent in these songs, but the band sound clearer, angrier, and more keenly focused than before. A major production upgrade means the interplay between guitar leads, blazing drums, and subtle acoustic guitar overdubs on exciting album-opener “Hide” aren’t lost to blurry fidelity. The song is exceptional, merging the cool detached pop of '80s college rock heroes like Echo & the Bunnymen or Teardrop Explodes with a supercharged punk energy. The band succeeds similarly on the angular “Mirror” and the sauntering, midtempo “World.” Where the bombast of earlier material came across as mere angsty punk, Happy exposes a wider range of dour emotions. From confusion and frustration on “Inside Out” to the grim perspective of walking through ugly city scenes on “Walk,” UV-TV's dissatisfactions are easier to connect with than ever before. Even the driving title track quickly exposes itself as misleading, with singer Rose Vastola embodying a fake smile in lyrics “I’m so happy for you, well it’s true” before screaming the bitter punchline “I’ll tell you, it’s just a lot of shit!” The album’s nine songs run by in less than half-an-hour, offering up a streamlined sound and some of the band’s most infectious songs to date.
© Fred Thomas /TiVo