We were fortunate enough to get a new album from Circa Waves last year, and in 2020 we’re twice as lucky: the Britpop quartet is dropping another unconventional new album over the span of a few months, with Sad Happy being released in two parts, the first out this Friday and the second in March.
We’ve already heard the peppy conga-line anthem “Jacqueline,” and today the group’s sharing an escapist fantasy about relocating to the Bay Area. “You look at me and say / ‘This Monday feels like Saturday’” vocalist/guitarist Kieran Shudall sings on “Move to San Francisco” over instrumentals mirroring the guitar pop of contemporaries like Two Door Cinema Club. It’s a song about weighing the idyllic versus reality, though the Super 8 film it arrives with is purely a daydream.
“Inspired by The Beatles’ favorite instrument, the Mellotron, ‘Move to San Francisco’ was written in a quick burst,” Shudall shares. “It’s about escapism, pessimism, and Bruce Springsteen. In the spirit of DIY we decided to film the video ourselves and let Joe [Falconer] edit the shit out of it. We walked to the highest point in San Fran, went to the lowest dive bars, and even filmed a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. What the video lacks in camera prowess it makes up for in idiotic charm.”
Happy drops this Friday, January 10, and Sad arrives March 13 via Prolifica Inc./[PIAS]. You can pre-order both here.
