The Happy Fits premiered their video for new single “Moving” today via Talkhouse, directed by stop-motion animator and hot glue gun expert Felicia Rein. The second single from the New Jersey trio’s upcoming sophomore LP, What Could Be Better, due out August 28 via The Orchard.
Discussing the single, cellist, vocalist and principal songwriter Calvin Langman states, “I wanted to confront the very complicated love that I saw my parents share growing up. There was always this cycle of fighting, leaving, and coming home, but with no actual resolution along the way. I felt their determination to make their love work, contended with the fear of throwing decades away and tearing their family apart, even if it meant choosing unhappiness and staying together. I wanted the emotions in the lyrics to be fickle, changing abruptly from saying ‘stay away’, one line, to ‘please come home’, the next.“
The Happy Fits started as a casual summer project for longtime friends Calvin, guitarist Ross Monteith, and drummer Luke Davis before starting college. After their debut EP took off on Spotify during their first semester, they dropped out to record their 2018 full-length Concentrate. The band brought their joyous live shows across the country on multiple headlining tours, as well as supporting acts like This Wild Life and the Frights. And even now, with the shutdown, they’re regularly livestreaming performances, maintaining the camaraderie that’s earned them a particularly engaged fanbase.
The band’s upbeat nature comes from a desire to connect with a world that’s sometimes distant. What Could Be Better’s title track was inspired by Calvin’s isolation as one of the few Asian-Americans in his hometown. As the band’s stages get bigger, he knows he’s becoming the role model he didn’t have, saying, “It feels really good to be someone that Filipino kids growing up in America could look up to.”
“What Could Be Better is a collection of songs written from the time I dropped out of school in 2017 to where I am now in early 2020,” Calvin continues. “It explores my trials and tribulations transitioning from being an obedient, structured student in school to becoming an independent, young adult. I documented the new stresses and responsibilities I faced in my daily life as the veil of my sheltered upbringing was lifted.”
In a time where positivity is hard to come by, What Could Be Better, breaks through as a ray of sunshine; a mission statement that’s meant to be shared.
