Avi Buffalo & Happyness at Thekla, 8th October

Thekla always seems to manage to put on bands with just the right amount of self-awareness: they know that people will want to see them perform, but they're not big enough to overestimate how many people will be there to watch. On Thursday, I went to see Happyness, and stayed for Avi Buffalo.


Happyness were super chilled out, and they talked to the audience in that kind of awkward, deadpan way in the breaks throughout the set (and just before it, when there was a bit of an issue with their amps). They also didn't ignore people who spoke to them - Big Jeff saying welcome to Bristol, "the kind man" who commented on their "technical fuck-up", or the people who shouted out that they had come just to see the support band. It was really sweet to see how surprised they were to hear that, and how grateful they were. Happyness were going to play at the Old Bookshop in Bristol until their gig got cancelled a little while back, so a fair few people probably bought tickets to see them at Thekla after that happened.

Happyness played a mix of songs from the album and LP, and one that "isn't out on anything yet", and it worked really well. Their performance was quite casual but they still put the effort in for the full duration of their set, upping the tempo a little for some songs, but still keeping the balance to make it a pretty laid-back set. The band are very down-to-earth, and their songs were well-chosen, fitting well with Avi Buffalo's sound really well, setting the crowd up for the next act.

Avi Buffalo aren't a band I fell in love with straight away, but they grew on me throughout the day (between Avi's solo acoustic set at Rise and their headline show later that evening). They have a very unique sound - I kept trying to put it into categories, but it only worked in parts: Of Montreal-style lyrics, Sufjan Stevens' raw and honest songwriting, Real Estate's guitar & bass melodies. Even though they don't fit neatly into one category, it was hard not to go deeper into the crowd, to keep listening and find out what they were going to play next, what the inspiration was behind it. Avi's voice is very clear-cut and raw, something that tends not to come through so much on the recorded tracks, but cuts through the sound of the instruments in the live show (in a good way!).

While Happyness ease you in with an instantly familiar, laid-back indie sound, Avi Buffalo are growers. You might grow to love them, you might grow to hate them, but you won't forget them in a hurry.

Happyness & Avi Buffalo are currently touring the UK and Europe.

Happyness - Montreal Rock Band Somewhere (SOFAR Session)

Avi Buffalo - What's In It For? (Yours Truly Live Session)