Hot Hot Heat’s first album, Make up the Break Down, was aggressively self-righteous with energy that bustled from one track to the next. Sophomore effort Elevator brought a few catchy hooks and revealed more of Steve Bays’ faux-punk pop vocals, while maintaining a similar attitude. Their latest venture, Happiness LTD, however, has lost the edge and stumbles because of it.
The attitude has changed dramatically over the 3-album span. Make Up the Break Down’s best quality was its complacency with rejection; even if their hearts were broken, they handled rejection with panache (“I’ve been hoping you’re moping around the street again…I’ve been poking a voodoo doll that you do not know I made for you, of you, I stick my needles through”). Elevator’s “Goodnight Goodnight” continued the self-righteous trend, sneering: “Goodnight, goodnight, you’re embarrassing me, you’re embarrassing you.”
With Happiness LTD, the band puts forth a newer, darker voice filled with broken love and misery. It’s as if the previous flippancy was simply a ruse to cover the band’s real feelings. And they are sad. So so sad. The title track opens with “Happiness is limited, but misery has no end.” If only we’d known how you felt!
Musically, Happiness LTD is adventurous, but the dark direction succeeds in removing the sound that got them on the map to begin with. Experimentation with strings, fewer synthed keys and lackluster, streamlined drum beats support the new vision and succeed in undermining the fun aggression that was Hot Hot Heat.
Of course, the album boasts a few hidden gems. “Harmonicas and Tambourines” and “Conversation” have the flippant drive that hearkens back to Heat’s glory days. The melodies are playful but keep pace with overdriven drums.
Overall though, the album fails to impress. On a scale of 1 to “I’ve Had Better” – it’s right in there at a 4.
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