Speakers » One Happy Island

One Happy Island is Shannon, Meghan, and Brad, three friends who delight in defying pop music conventions. Their intricately constructed songs reach the stage via gleefully ramshackle performances, making expressive use of toys and arcane instruments and joyfully disregarding pre-existing conceptions of structure, instrumentation, and leadership. Some of them have made music in bands most of their lives. Some of them have made music in bands for less than six months. Everybody sings, everybody writes. Their best shows feel like rehearsals. They aspire to move, baffle, and reveal, but are also happy to entertain.

Formed in 2008, One Happy Island has recorded a series of cherished, limited-edition EPs, two seven-inch vinyl singles (including a recent split with acclaimed UK outfit Standard Fare), and one full-length album. Enjoying particular/peculiar success overseas, their recordings have been released by such beloved UK independent record labels as WeePOP! Records, Oddbox Records, and Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation. They have just completed the recording of a new album, to be released this fall, which was performed entirely live in the studio without overdubs, headphones, or click-tracks. Just three people in a room making music.