Personal, raw, emotions are front and center on THICK’s newest strong offering Happy Now on Epitaph as the New York City pop-punk trio tries to remain positive while grappling with self-doubt, visceral pain, victim blaming, and questioning their place in their world around catchy riffs, bass thumps and drum blasts.
THICK, vocalist/guitarist Nikki Sisti, vocalist/bassist Kate Black, and vocalist/drummer Shari Page, worked with producer Joel Hamilton (Iggy Pop, Juiceboxxx) to craft the eleven tight tracks here. Perhaps the best overall element is the group’s soundscape; a combination of a harsh bottom and revving feedback supporting the more pop/indie leaning vocals and bright guitar lines. This juxtaposition of brutal with blissful supports each track here to varying degrees and makes for a stout musical journey throughout Happy Now.
The rumbling low end and screeching guitars kick things off with “Happiness” as the group sing about “Happiness from the outside in” questioning social media look at me/like me now culture. Those poppy punk vocals around distortion work on “I Wish 2016 Never Happened” dealing with self-doubt while “Tell Myself” stays in the same lyrical vein with less noise and more indie rock flair.
THICK’s best moment is “Loser” which results in a soaring anthem about outsiders. Using a bass chugging intro and heavy as-all-hell drums the track builds with its pop-punk foundation in Blue Album era, Weezer-like fashion. That band’s influence also pops up in the hide your feelings away relationship track “Her Chapstick” which wouldn’t have been out of place on Pinkerton.
“Wants and Needs” drags with an extended run time but “Maybe Tomorrow” grooves with crisp directness, while “Your Garden” struggles with love while displaying the best guitar licks from Sisti. The positive ‘let’s grow old sentiment’ around “Montreal” is sweet, but Happy Now works best with the more complex and hurtful emotions. “Disappear” deals with the futility of trying to help friends out with their mental pain with screeching sounds and snippets of the spoken word while the victim-blaming finale “Something Went Wrong” is a powerful closing statement about how society responds to sexual abuse victims.
The world is a messy place and THICK has staked out their mid-90s power/pop/punk-inspired sonic ground, using both heavy and light to question societal issues and personal relationship pains in an affecting manner on Happy Now.
