Whist we were raving over the new single, Mein Fräulein, and drooling in anticipation of their imminent tour with the mighty Paul Weller, ATB favourites Barbara have given us yet more reason to celebrate. Their second EP (or Mini Album, as we prefer to call it…) – Happy Days! – will hit the racks on 22nd May. We warned you it might be on the way… and we were right!

It’s a stonker – we know that already, because we, along with many amongst the growing assembly of Barbarettes have been closely monitoring what the Brothers Tydeman, and their partners-in-pleasure Jack Hosgood (bass), Lawrie Miller (drums) and Dean Llewellyn (guitars) have been up to over the past couple of years. Over the past 15 months or so, they’ve whetted our appetites with a stream of increasingly heartwarming singles – Waiting Outside Alone, Enduring Love, Pretty Straight Guy and Master Narrative, as well as the hot-of-the-press Mein Fräulein – each of them pushing the Barbara envelope just that little bit further. And now, as we hoped, this latest sequence of songs have been collected together, alongside another new song, Grandad – the tune that Barbara premiered, complete with flat caps and false beards, at their recent Brighton Bonanza showpiece. It’s a great song – we can vouch for that – and, if you haven’t heard it yet, brace yourself for Dean’s stunning guitar solo…

Somehow, I believe that Happy Days! will be a shoo-in for our 2024 Album of the Year listings…!

Speaking about the album, Barbara had this to say: “It’s two years now since we put out our [debut EP], Mildly Entertaining, and we are more than thrilled to be able to present you with another.  Nowadays streaming services are undeniably a very important tool for artists like us, but there’s nothing quite like a physical copy of music, don’t you think? The two of us have always been big CD collectors and so to be releasing another one of our own really does make us as pleased as punch. Happy Days! is the culmination of two years of writing and recording and we must confess we’re bloomin’ proud of it!”

Personally, I’ve been downloading each Barbara single as they’ve come along and I’ve been adding them to my ever-growing Barbara playlist, but the prospect of having all these tremendous songs, properly sequenced and all in one one place is too much for me to resist and, if you’ve seen Barbara in action – in and around Brighton maybe, or on one of their tours – or, most probably opening for The Divine Comedy, Haircut 100 or, in the weeks to come, Paul Weller, I’m sure that you’ll feel the same way. So why not do what I’ve just done – pre-order your CD copy of Happy Days! via this link. Or if you’re one of the few ATB followers who prefer your music in something other than physical form, you can always pre-save the EP on Spotify here. But why not push the boat out… get yourselves a CD.

You might have seen this this before, but here’s a chance to enjoy, once again, the official video to Barbara’s May 2023 single, Pretty Straight Guy – a track from the imminent EP:

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