Greer – Happy People: EP Review

By John Barlass on 2nd November 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

Joyous Power Pop – from Orange County, California – by courtesy of Greer

Release Date: 5^th November 2021

Label: Epitaph Records

Formats: Download, Stream

Greer are a four-piece power pop outfit from Orange County, California, and the sound they make is compulsive, melodic and joyous. Comparisons are already being drawn between Greer and the likes of Elvis Costello and Big Star, and those making such comparisons have a serious point.

The band’s name is a tribute to the late Emma Greer DiBiase, the internet personality who died in 2016 from aveolar domyosarcoma – a rare muscle cancer – at the tragically young age of 16. The members, who like to be known by their Christian names, are Corbin (guitar), Josiah (vocals), Lucas (drums) and Seth (bass) and they’re starting to gather a huge following – they regularly attract more that 300,000 listeners each month on Spotify. Greer is a band that is clearly going places.

Happy People is Greer’s second EP release in the last 18 months and follows – and builds upon – 2020’s acclaimed Lullaby For You. It’s a collection of four punchy, joyful, powerful, poppy songs that will, without doubt, whip up yet more momentum to add to the tidal surge that they’ve already created. The songs on the EP were partially inspired by the frustrations of the COVID lockdown period but they relate to situations that can occur any place and at any time.

The EP gets underway with its title track – also the collection’s first single. A bluesy acoustic guitar quickly gives way to an urgent, upfront vocal, a nice mix of clean and fuzzy guitars and a rock-solid rhythm. The band’s press release warns us to expect something catchy and infectious – and that’s no empty talk. This is classic power pop, with more than just a hint of Nirvana. According to the song’s composer, bassist Seth, Happy People is “…a reflection on bitterness and resentment, and trying to become a better person out of it. I’ve struggled with feeling easily angered by a lot of things, especially given what we experienced in quarantine, so writing this song was a therapeutic experience.”

Little Echo is more of the same – simple, upbeat and almost Beatle-ish in parts, it’s another enjoyable song – packed with addictive guitar hooks and some wonderful drum fills. And the fun continues with the Iggy Pop-like Passenger riff that drives third track, Way Out, along.

Closing track, Connect The Dots, is perhaps, the most overtly poppy song in this short collection. It’s catchy, hummable and melodic – all the hallmarks of a classic pop song, but the urgent backing – chiming guitars, gritty drums and stringlike synth – give the song an added dimension and that extra bit of durability that straight pop often lacks.

Sometimes, it can be refreshing and life enhancing to listen to a set of short, energetic, powerful tunes. Greer’s Happy People EP fits that bill wonderfully. Well worth a listen!

Watch the Official Video to Happy People – the title track of the EP and the collection’s first single – here: