Brisbane’s The Double Happiness are premiering their delicious new single ‘Oysters Can Dream’ on Backseat Mafia today, and it is another fine example of the reverb-soaked dreamy soundscapes this band are so excellent at delivering.
Twanging, jangling guitars and vocal harmonies evoke sea spray splashes on bright sunny waterfronts and the briny delights of open air seaside cafes and mucking about on the sea shore. The Double Happiness have always excelled at capturing the landscapes they live in and wrapping it up in their surfing, rolling tracks. ‘Oysters Can Dream’ is the essence of coastal Queensland bottled in five minutes. A sSalty, briny and shining morsel.
When we last visited this band with the single ‘No Place Like Nundah’ last year, they had turned their eye toward the sunburned outskirts of Brisbane with a tang of nostalgia and a whiff of melancholia.
This time, the band moves to the sea shore in a very bizarre and somewhat tongue-in-cheek splash in the waters with a dash of bivalve mollusc anthropomorphism. ‘Oysters Can Dream’ is a slightly surreal tale of oysters living on the rocky sea shore with the vocal interplay, choral whispers and sharp guitar arcs evincing the very incoming and receding waves: it is such an evocative and mesmerising vision you can almost feel yourself paddling in the rock pools in the razor sharp sunlight.
The accompanying video is doused in dappling acqua marine colours: it is as trippy and hypnotic as the track:
And while the song is imbued with a delicate air of melancholy, one gets a sense of a band that is enjoying themselves immensely: a sense that is catching and infective.
Out on 6 October 2020, you can get download and stream the single here.
The Double Happiness has also announced news of the release of their album ‘Surfgazing’: a brilliant title that captures their unique sound which is a mix of surf music and shoegaze. This is due out towards the end of the year.
The single will be launched at the second of a series of gigs being put on by the beacon of good taste that is 4000 Records, celebrating its first year in operation. Being held on 10 October 2020 with an array of 4000 Records signings, full details of the gig can be found here. A sincere and warm happy birthday to 4000 Records from Backseat Mafia.
Feature Photograph: Mark Cranitch
