TAKING BACK SUNDAY - Happiness Is LP

Label: Hopeless

It's a rare occasion when a band can stray from their roots and suddenly find their way back to them while carving out a new path along the way. Taking Back Sunday has done it with their 6th studio album release. Rather than straying from the sound that defined them and a whole era or trying to recreate it, they sound like they're just being themselves.

Happiness Is is kind of a big deal for TBS: It’s their first record on an independent label in a decade; it’s the first time they’ve worked with producer Mike Sapone (Brand New’s long time engineer/producer); and most importantly, it’s the third TBS album to feature the band’s “classic” line-up of frontman Adam Lazzara, guitarist/vocalist John Nolan, guitarist Eddie Reyes, bassist Shaun Cooper and drummer Mark O’Connell. With Happiness Is, this line-up has now released more music as a unit than any other version of TBS, which is a pretty monumental accomplishment since many of us assumed the reunion with Nolan and Cooper would never happen.