The Happy Fits – Do You See Me?
Indie/rock darlings The Happy Fits released today their brand new single “Do You See Me?,” accompanied by an official video, off their forthcoming album Lovesick, due out September 19th.
The track follows their previous single “Wild In Love,” which the band recently performed live for the first time during their national television debut on CBS Saturday Morning along with “Everything You Do” and “Cruel Power.”
With their sonic rebirth on full display, “Do You See Me?” builds from a lo-fi whisper to an orchestral roar on the brooding album opener. Like much of the new record, the song contemplates longing and desire, coming to terms with the inherent selfishness of love, and our bottomless need for acceptance and approval.
“We shot the music video with Jacqueline Justice on a dry hot day in LA,” stated frontman/cellist Calvin Langman. “We’d only loosely shared this idea of an ethereal, reflective world to match the dreaminess of the song and Jacq took it from there. She built a story about longing, searching, and the way memories linger all while literally building the reflective surfaces herself. In every shot with that mirrored structure, you’ll see a pair of silver hands holding it. That’s Lucky Kilmarten. He’d just flown in from the UK the night before to help Jacq. He stood with us outside all day, never complained once, and we’re really sorry about his sunburn.”
Lovesick was written and recorded after ten tumultuous months that saw one founding member depart the band severing a creative partnership that had formed the group’s bedrock since the start, another leave tour to get sober following an emotional intervention, and a third entering an era of self-renaissance after the dissolution of a serious relationship and a series of relocations. Rather than let the hardship break their stride, though, the acclaimed quartet leaned into the turmoil, transforming all the heartbreak and uncertainty they experienced into their most exhilarating, adventurous, and cathartic record yet. Lovesick is, as its title would suggest, a complicated reckoning with all the joy and pain that comes with opening your heart to the world. The songs are bold and fearless, reveling in the intensity of it all with radical vulnerability, and the performances are similarly, pairing blistering rock and roll energy and addictive pop hooks with sweeping orchestral arrangements and raw, revelatory lyrics.
Lovesick also marks The Happy Fits’ first release with guitarists/vocalists Nico Rose and Raina Mullen, whose fresh perspective, innovative style, and undeniable chemistry with Langman and drummer Luke Davis manage to infuse the band’s sound with the unbridled energy of a debut record. The result is a poignant reflection on loss, grief, and renewal that touches on everything from Fleetwood Mac and ABBA to Arcade Fire and The Cars, an alternately triumphant and devastating meditation on change and growth that consistently reaches for beauty and transcendence, no matter how distant they may seem.
“It feels like a whole new beginning,” says Langman. “We had to go through a lot of struggle to get here, but the band is stronger and healthier than ever before now, and I couldn’t be more excited about the chapter we’re about to embark on.”
Passion, in the end, is what Lovesick is all about. Not just romantic passion, but passion for life in all its messy, confusing glory: passion for growth, for healing, for heartbreak, for discovery, for destruction, for creation, for mistakes, for second chances. The Happy Fits have experienced it all these last ten months; now they’re ready to share it onstage every night.
Tour Dates:
09/24 – Madrid, Spain @ Sala El Sótano
09/25 – Barcelona, Spain @ Sala Vol
09/27 – Paris, France @ La Boule Noire
09/28 – Antwerp, Belgium @ Kavka
09/30 – Cologne, Germany @ Luxor
10/01 – Munich, Germany @ Kranhalle
10/03 – Milan, Italy @ Arci Bellezza
10/04 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Bogen F
10/05 – Prague, Czech Republic @ Cafe V lese
10/07 – Berlin, Germany @ Frannz
10/08 – Hamburg, Germany @ headCRASH
10/09 – Tilburg, Netherlands @ 013
10/10 – Groningen, Netherlands @ Simplon
10/11 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
10/12 – Arnhem, Netherlands @ Luxor Live
10/14 – Birmingham, UK @ Mama Roux
10/15 – Leeds, UK @ Wardrobe
10/16 – Glasgow, UK @ Garage
10/17 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
10/18 – London, UK @ Islington Assembly Hall
11/01 – Richmond, VA @ The National
11/02 – Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
11/04 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
11/05 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
11/07 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
11/08 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
11/10 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
11/11 – Dallas, TX @ The Echo
11/12 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
11/14 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
11/15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
11/16 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
11/18 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
11/19 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
11/21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Grand at Complex
11/22 – Denver, CO @ Gothic
11/25 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
11/28 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
11/29 – Chicago, IL @ The Vic
11/30 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
12/03 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
12/05 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian
12/06 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews
12/07 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
12/09 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre
12/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
12/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
12/13 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
#thehappyfits