The Mica Levi-led Micachu and The Shapes have changed their name to Good Sad Happy Bad and announced a new studio album, Shades, out on October 16 via Textile Records. The group have released a new music video for the album’s title-track directed by Tony Harewood.
“Shades” opens up with a man wearing 1990s clothing spreading what appears to be cream cheese on a tortilla chip, before turning its attention to the band. The video is shot with a psychedelic, yet lo-fidelity style, emulated by a slightly over exposed camera shot and summer setting. This song is a mix of shoe gaze and psychedelic pop with a quiet, yet catchy guitar chord playing the main melody, while an array of vintage sounding keys and then louder sonics are played throughout the track.
This new band name comes from the title of their most recent studio album Good Sad Happy Bad, which came out in 2015. The band first gained prominence in 2009 with the release of their debut studio album Jewellery and ventured into even broader success with their sophomore studio album Never. Levi has embarked on number of prolific projects, scoring the films Under The Skin, Jackie and Monos, alongside a collaborative project with Oliver Coates.
“In reviewing Never, we’re forced to conclude with a shout from XTC, Micachu and the Shapes’ fellow countrymen: This is pop. Sure, lead track ‘Easy’ kicks up the kind of noise bad dreams are made of, but the underlying attention to wringing melody out of these disparate sounds cannot go unappreciated,” mxdwn reviewer Patrick W. DeLaney stated.
Shades track list
1. Do It
2. Blessed
3. Star
4. Honey
5. Believe it
6. This Skin
7. Reaching
8. Bubble
9. Shades
10. Taking
11. Pyro
12. Universal
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