Dharma Records
Present
And the release of their debut album
– Release Date: 4th April –
Genre: Alternative, Alt-Pop, Indie
Key Tracks: Head Above Water, Running Away, Multi Coloured Skies
FFO: Wire, Baxter Dury, Yard Act, Depeche Mode
Label / Imprint: Dharma Records
Format: Digital Album
“A refreshing alt-pop experience… a dynamic force in modern music” Amplify The Noise
“Indie dance euphoria & post punk authenticity” Last Day Deaf
“Sounding excellent” John Kennedy / Radio X
Having given us a taste of their audio palette with shared tracks Running Away, Head Above Water & Multi-Coloured Skies, which have received love & support from BBC6 Music’s Gideon Coe, Radio X’s John Kennedy & BBC Introducing’s Abbie McCarthy, alt-pop outfit Rear Window, the monicker for Gang of Four vocalist JJ Sterry & blues aficionado Santi Arribas, release their debut album Happiness By Design this spring.
Jam packed with top-line melodies & electro-pop flavours, the album is a set piece for Sterry’s dry witted vocals, which tackle subjects as varied as the monotony of modern life through to existential struggle, mental escapism and beyond.
Quintesentially British at its core, Happiness By Design pulls in electro-kraute influences on the track Rocket Man, bossa nova rhythms for Running Away & splashes of tasteful blues guitar throughout many of the tracks, all of which mesh together seamlessly to create a body of work steeped in lyrical drama (more detailed track descriptions below).
Vocalist JJ Sterry says of the release “Happiness By Design is an exploration into our relationship with the human condition & the journey involved in giving meaning to one’s own life. These days I’ve got a little bit of balance in my life. I suppose; from day to day I’m on the level, but there’s a healthy amount of chaos in there too – however, at times the chaos takes over fully & I end up booking a flight somewhere stupid just to feel something. So it goes…”
Citing Talking Heads, The Cure, Baxter Dury & XTC as creative influences, Rear Window first met when Sterry was invited by the late Andy Gill to join his influential post-punk outfit Gang of Four as their new front man, with whom he toured extensively from 2015. At the time, Arribas was working with Gill at his Rear Window recording studios until his passing, after which Arribas took over the running of the place.
The duo sat together to write a song for The Roadside Bandit’s 2nd album & decided to ‘write a couple more songs for fun…’. Things evolved & then there was Happiness By Design – Rear Window’s debut album. Sterry pens the lyrics while Arribas leads the production & for them, it felt only natural to name their new project after the studio they work in.
With juxtaposed influences & each member bringing skill sets from different angles, Rear Window meet in the middle to create exciting music that unconstrained by genre. Definitely one to check!
Track Descriptions
Multi-Coloured Skies
A song about personal inspiration, the unfulfillment of dreams & how optimism can drive hope. Exploring the elation often experienced when in ephemeral situations, we find that following through on ideas dreamt up in the moment are not so easy to follow through in the long run. “We’re gonna take the long road while this mad world spins” sings Sterry as he considers the expansive optimism felt when experiencing that which is out of the norm.
Head Above Water
A tight four-to-the-floor groove with staccato synths & looping guitars, over which Sterry’s confrontational vocals propound his thoughts on the illusion of security we may feel in our lives. Sterry explains: “As much as we’d like to think otherwise, our fate isn’t really in our own hands. Your boss might be having a bad day, family issues, health, wealth, whatever – one small thing can set off a chain reaction & it all comes crashing down”. The idea flips on its head in the verses: “Even with the bits we can control, we still have to rely on ourselves not to screw things up… to bite our tongue & set aside our moral objections to keep our place at the table.”
Give My Regards
A breakup song in a roundabout kind of way – about making up for lost time when it all comes crashing down around you – like trying to remember who you actually are as a whole when for so long, somebody filled in the gaps. No time for anger or blame – you got enough on your plate trying to work all this stuff out. It’s about reconnecting with people who maybe went onto the back burner. Getting itchy feet – the urge to keep moving.
Running Away
A song about self-sabotage – the idea that when things get too comfortable, one’s reaction can often be to move on, thinking that you can’t really build anything meaningful once the foundations are in place. A bit like what Schopenhauer often wrote about: our driving force being an unsatisfactory ‘free-will’… it’s probably half what you want will never feel enough and half not knowing what you wanted in the first place. The song’s bossa nova beat makes it feel like a lazy kind of dream & it’s one of JJ Sterry’s favourite tracks on the album.
The Price I Pay
About trying to stay in touch with people from a life you don’t live anymore. There’s always an obstacle to meeting up – too busy, too far away – when in reality, if you really wanted to, you’d make it work. Your lives have veered off in different directions & it’s hard to admit that & let them go. However, if you can manage to, you can be more present with the people around you now, who understand you & live a similar life.
Happiness By Design
Inspired by a book found in a charity shop – it can be taken so many different ways. Calling to mind those huge civic projects & concrete housing estates where architects, psychologists & experts try to build a Utopia, genuinely believed they can make the world a better place. The book, however, was actually about finding pleasure & purpose in everyday things… that’s nice too!
It’s Raining Again (In Soho)
Written soon after Shane McGowan died – Sterry saw his picture on a newspaper trampled into the ground on Tottenham Court Road; having just listened to The Pogue’s A Rainy Night In Soho. It began as a tribute to him but soon morphed into something else. The song explores the relationship between writer & their environment – do you see things clearer when you’re in the eye of the storm, or can you observe things better when you step back. Shane lived life in the middle of it all, for better for worse, but many writers lived on the fringes – bystanders to a scene they may have been associated with.
Rocket Men
Written in collaboration with TIME | LIFE author Catherine Mayer, this is a song about how the super-rich are always looking to package & monetise – to gain financially from things the rest of us may have used for good. Imagine if a time machine existed? All the people you could reconnect with who’d been lost to the years – to have one moment with them, or go into the future & see your grandchildren navigate their way in the world!
The Eleventh Hour
After leaving a long-term relationship we often take time to pick ourselves up while feeling much time has gone by & you’ll never meet anyone… but then you do. This is a happy song, full of optimism about those moments where it all clicks – right place, right time. Sometimes you feel like everyone can see you’re a bit broken & maybe you’re not letting people in, when all you need is some kind of cosmic gift, & then the stars to align.
Strike Me Down
This track explores the sense of disillusionment one can feel when you go all in on a ‘thing’, trying your best to make it work, but it all comes crashing down. Makes you wonder If there’s any point in striving for something better, when you could just sit back & still be in the same position. The line, “I play to win, ‘cos I just might” is a bit of a concession – the hope & anticipation of something better is what gets us up in the morning. However many times life strikes us down, we always get back up. We have to – we’re only human, right?
Too Much To Lose
About spending your whole life trying to be something, to get things & get status as a family etc – but if that doesn’t fulfil you, you’re screwed because you’ve worked too hard & have too much to lose to back out now. So, you become paralysed in this limbo, too scared to do anything about your situation. I guess that’s just the human condition really, isn’t it? Craving stability and then regretting once we achieve it.
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