Album Review: Livingstone Daisies - Don't Know What Happiness Is

From the opening chords of Wednesday, the opening song on Melbourne four-piece Livingstone Daisies' debut record Don't Know What Happiness Is, it is clear that hooks and harmonies are all that matters. This kind of power pop hasn't been indulged in since the mid-'90s, and yet there's an amiable and timeless quality to these eight tracks that bears repeated listens. The lyrics are quirky yet imbued with warmth and affection (“I'm leaving home/The bins go out on Wednesday”). The band veer away from the great garage jangle of triptych Wednesday, Redhead and Blue Solitude for more wistful, melancholy fare on Safety In Numbness, before Die On The Vine tears a hole in the clouds once more with a rollicking simplicity that belies the musicianship on display.

It doesn't hurt that Van Walker's vocals ring like a warm concoction of Tom Petty, Norman Blake and Alex Chilton, yet it's as much the vivacious chemistry between all four members (which includes Walker's brother Clay, Michael Barclay and Liz Stringer) and their tenacious hunt for the hook amongst the wistfulness of daily suburban life that instils such heart in their music. This is most evident in about-turn closer I Still Believe In You, with phasers and organs combining to proffer a prog-rock tune par excellence. It is beautiful, the best track on here – and feels like a last-minute attachment, so different in approach it is to the rest of the album.

Yet there's an authenticity that permeates from Don't Know What Happiness Is that glues everything together, and makes playing simple pop compositions with originality and overt personality sound like a good idea all over again.