The Aliens are a young band full of old hands. They are three members of the sadly defunct Beta Band, including Gordon Anderson, who wrote the bulk of their songs. He has had one hell of a rough time of it in the last couple of years what with depression, other mental health problems and subsequent rehab.
So it is, of course, knowingly ironic that they've entitled this single The Happy Song. So happy is this song, that it is basically the frantic chanting of the word 'happy' over a rhythm and melody that might as well have been released under the name of the Beta Band - not that this is a bad thing. It is a very very good thing. The only time the track veers of this course is to mutter singularly-Anderson lyrics such as "I'm happy every day as I go around my life/Happy every day even though I'm stuck in Fife", and to reach a crescendo where Anderson cries "Are you coming on up now?" over and over again. A drug reference? Perhaps, but at least he's happy.
The album should be immense. Another new track up their sleeve, Robot Man, is even better. And they are extraordinary live, as the thrilled audience at the Green Man Festival can testify.
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