Exclusive: Happyness Share New Single “Ouch (yup)” From New Album Floatr

British lo-fi rockers Happyness have shared a new single, “Ouch (yup),” premiering exclusively via Paste below and taken from their forthcoming third album Floatr, out on May 1. Floatr follows 2017’s Write In and 2015’s self-recorded debut Weird Little Birthday. The band began as a three-piece of Jonny Allan, Ash Kenazi and Benji Compston back in 2013 and now boasts a core lineup of Allan and Kenazi (who has recently come out and often performs in drag on stage) alongside live members Max Bloom (Yuck), Anna Vincent (Heavy Heart) and Scott Booker Roach (Social Contract).

Following previous singles “Vegetable” and “Seeing Eye Dog,” “Ouch (yup)” also maintains their lo-fi roots, but it’s not an empty pastiche. It grapples with the personal and political defeatism that’s so easy to slip into these days—wondering how long we can (and should) tread water and marveling at how we convince ourselves that things are set in stone when they really aren’t. But it’s not overly bleak, thanks in part to their enlivening guitar passages and Jonny Allan’s trustworthy vocals.

“It’s about processing the stuff you leave behind, and not getting complacent and not assuming anything,” the band says. “We were going through some massive life changes around the time we wrote this song, and Brexit was happening (remember that!). It’s about disbelief I guess. And the slow excruciating dawning of reality. Reality is a weird rush, the truth sets you free. Those kinds of things.”

Listen to “Ouch (yup),” exclusively via Paste below, and scroll down to hear their 2015 Daytrotter session. You can preorder Floatr here.