The Happy Sun – S/T LP (Noise Appeal Records)

The Happy Sun is another moniker of Gerhard Potuznik, a very prolific Austrian electronic artist whose career spans almost four decades. He began producing music in the early eighties, recorded numerous recordings under various aliases, and collaborated with dozen of artists during the years. Of course, his musical endeavors haven’t passed unnoticed, so he has been a member/collaborator in multiple projects, and groups over the years. The Happy Sun operates as a powerful post-punk mechanism completely driven by Gerhard’s creative force and solid musicianship. On this particular material, Gerhard was heavily inspired by delicate shoegaze aesthetics soaked into exceptional post-punk foundations. Intending to enhance the sound, The Happy Sun summarizes even more elements of noise rock, indie, cold wave, new wave, and alternative music. These experimentations with various elements resulted in a wide array of marvelously performed, positively charged compositions. The sound evolves even more through additional accentuations, mainly comprised of pleasant uplifting segments. Unlike the rest of the post-punk scene, The Happy Sun entirely relies on vibrant, colorful, lighthearted melodies, so this debut self-titled album conceivably remits some innovations on the scene, which has been creatively listless for decades. The complete material carries the gracious dosages of positive vibrations that will come as a delightful surprise to the post-punk fans who expect another repetitious material because this album is quite the opposite. However, you may encounter some remarkable melancholic harmonizations along the way, but they’re so delicate and beautiful. From clever song structures to thoughtful arrangements, The Happy Sun solves the neverending quest for a perfect summertime soundtrack, which has been empowered with subtle doses of overdrive distortion over the top. Judging by the sound, The Happy Sun resembles a megalithic sonic clash between Smashing Pumpkins, Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, Iggy Pop, The Stranglers, The Chameleons, Sonic Youth, Killing Joke, and I am positively sure these acts somehow inspired Gerhard creativity in some distinctive manner. This self-titled debut full-length definitely floats somewhere between the eighties post-punk sound, nineties shoegaze alternative, and some innovative ideas exerted from the contemporary music scene. The album has been published on transparent light grey vinyl by Noise Appeal Records, a notable Austrian recording label that carries numerous amount of brilliant artists under its belt.