The Happy Fits: Some Awfully Apeelin’ Music

“Darling, darling, darling, let me sing to you/ Let me sing to you, let me sing to you.” And so ends “Little Words,” the final track on the Happy Fits’ first full-length album, Concentrate. 

Over the past couple of years, I’ve really fallen in love with the Happy Fits’ music. Every song sounds so different, yet there’s that distinct sound to them all that just joins them together. Somehow, their lyrics, as odd as they can be, just make the song even more masterful. Each word, placed just right as to give a whole new meaning to everything they say. 

The three members of the band, Luke Davis, drums, Ross Monteith, guitar, and Calvin Langman, cello and vocals, met in college. They started The Happy Fits in 2016 and dropped out in 2017 when they figured out people actually wanted to listen to them play. Their first really released music was their EP, Awfully Apeelin’ in 2016. Concentrate followed in 2018, and their second full-length album, What Could Be Better, was released in 2020. This year, they released two singles, “Cold Turkey” and “Another Try.” 

The Happy Fits really embody what I feel like music should be. It’s peppy and enthusiastic, while also addressing some topics that are a little harder to define. Love is one of their big ones, more specifically the lack of such, with lyrics such as “so, you say you love me, but not the way I need/things are so close to what I want to be,” from “She Wants Me (To Be Loved)” on What Could Be Better. 

They also speak a lot of not being satisfied where you are and with who you are. For example, in “Dirty Imbecile” on Awfully Apeelin’, they write in the counter chorus “Am I good? Is all I could enough for you?/I’m so scared of when and where I’ll find the truth.” Their addressing of fear and insecurity combined with the front you put up for people that they speak of in the chorus makes this song very powerful. The counter and chorus are sung together at the end, demonstrating the two sides to people and “the struggle everyone faces to try and fit in while also trying to find a way to stay true to themselves.”

The way the three of them write brings so much joy and enthusiasm to their music. Davis’s drums provide the perfect backdrop to Monteith’s guitar and Langman’s vocals, as well as his cello. The three of them working together seems to create the most perfect combination of rock and indie alternative music that there ever could be. 

No matter what music you enjoy, the Happy Fits probably have a song you’d enjoy. “Reason for Dreaming,” “Relimerence,” and “She Wants Me (To Be Loved)” are all slower songs, but still with that rock sound to them. “Sailing” and “Little Words” are some of their sadder songs, while “What Could Be Better,” “So Alright, Cool, Whatever,” and “Heart of a Dancer” are all more upbeat. 

Overall, The Happy Fits is one of the best bands that I personally have listened to (and trust me, I’ve listened to a lot). Listening to their music has brought me joy in a lot of darker times, and I very much recommend listening to any of it. The way they bring their energy and enthusiasm to their music is incredible, and I’ve heard very few artists measure up.