Stars Hollow – “Happy Again”
Stars Hollow is an Emo/Screamo/Indie band straight out of the midwest; Iowa to be exact. Their music brings me right back to the glory days of Emo music, the early-mid 2000’s that saw a huge success in the music scene. Stars Hollow has two EPs already under their belt; “I’m Really Not That Upset About It” released in 2016 and their new, five track EP, “Happy Again”. If you miss the genuinely amazing Emo/Screamo/Indie bands that you knew and loved, you have to listen to this new EP!
When I first listened to “Happy Again”, I immediately knew it would be a banger that people would fall in love with. The EP starts off with It’s Not That, the perfect song to begin the album. Right away, the listener is given a huge Dance Gavin Dance vibe with the upbeat guitar chords and heavy drumming. Stars Hollow did an amazing job of capturing their influences and paying homage to them on this entire EP. It’s Not That would have been one of the many songs that we drove around to in high school singing at the top of our lungs (not that I won’t do it now as well)! “I guess that I’ll stay in the car, I guess I’ll breathe in the exhaust, until the awkward silence is over, then I’ll just say, ‘Hey, it never mattered anyway.’”!
Stars Hollow continues the EP with You Won’t Be Happy Again. People are going to fall in love with this album due to the lyrics alone. Every word sang on this album is exactly what Emo/Screamo fans fell in love with years ago; the emotional, wear your heart on your sleeve type of stuff. It’s a moment to have an escape, a place where they know they aren’t the only one feeling so lost and lonely and confused. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t try, we can be that age, young, naive, and brave. Not scared to care for someone, when all I can say it ‘I’ll do what I can’. It’s sad to say, I’d be anyone’s anything, if they’d let me.”
Stars Hollow put a quick fifty-five second instrumental song, Comma, to break up the album and I love it. It slows down the album entirely with soft strums of the guitar. It reminds me a lot of the instrumentals you would hear on an album by The Starting Line. I always enjoy when a band includes something like this on an album. When I’m listening to music, as I assume happens with most people, each song always puts me in a different mood, triggering different senses, memories, etc. Incorporating a slow break on an album that mainly consists of fast paced and heavy songs is the perfect way to hype someone up for the rest of it!
The song transitions into You Just Won’t Be the Same, a fast paced song that goes right back to the Emo/Screamo vocals and instrumentals we know and love. This song is one of my favorites on the EP. I am obsessed with the bridge after the first verse. It automatically has me head banging and moving to the music. You Just Won’t Be the Same contains lyrics that are very similar to the style that Senses Fail presented. “But it’s just blood, you won’t admit it’s because of you, it’s not surprise you say the shit you do, like, ‘It’s not my fucking problem that you feel that way.’ I’ll just face the fact you just won’t be the same. Hold me underwater, I’ll hear you laughing and singing, breathing is a hobby I’d give up if you asked me, then my bones can be your throwing stones”. I can already see the tons of fans screaming this back to the band every time they perform this song!
Stars Hollow ends “Happy Again” with As You Were Before.. This song is what brings the entire EP together. Throughout the EP, Stars Hollow presented the listener with lyrics of young love and the heart ache that comes with it. The ending verse of this song brings the entire EP full circle. “It’s not that you won’t be happy again, you just won’t be the same as you were before. I hate (I hate) the way that things just don’t feel the same (the same). Like you’ll never laugh again (you say) at least not that way. I’ll be okay, someday, I’ll be HAPPY AGAIN”!
Stars Hollow is one of my favorite relatively new bands. This new EP is outstanding. Their music is amazing and they deserve everything good that comes their way! The band is currently working on a full length album, and will be on tour with Charmer in July/August. Make sure to listen to songs from “Happy Again” on the blog’s Spotify playlist; After Hours Review!