Happenings
Six days before Kasabian released its eighth album, the Leicester band played a surprise gig on the Woodsies stage at Glastonbury 2024. A tent-wide mosh pit lit up by burning flares and equally luminous grins confirmed that Kasabian’s knack for bonding pop nous and everyman swagger to psychedelic adventure and club-ready grooves still commands the sort of devotion that helped earn them a headline slot at the festival 10 years earlier. On *Happenings*, their always restless lead singer/guitarist/creative engine Serge Pizzorno revitalizes that mix by filtering out the flotsam with an every-note-counts approach. He indulges his musical curiosity but never lets it meander, restricting the 10-song album to a 28-minute running time. So “Hell of It” might draw on garage rock, hardcore rave, and synth pop but it does so with satin-smooth gear changes and an urgency that sees the song done in three and a half minutes. In these surrounds, you’re rarely more than 60 seconds away from a stirring chorus, and the stickiest hooks—in disco-rock thumper “Coming Back to Me Good” and the crisp, unburdened pop of “Algorithms”—feel fit to be sung from shoulders in festival fields for a few years yet. *Happenings* may be short but it’s consistently sharp.
There’s a vibrant emotional clarity to ‘Happenings’, Kasabian’s strongest album in some years – read NME’s review here
There’s a vibrant emotional clarity to ‘Happenings’, Kasabian’s strongest album in some years – read NME’s review here
Serge Pizzorno brings both a warmer energy and proud ownership of his own material that has put fresh (rechargeable) batteries in Kasabian’s mood
Serge Pizzorno brings both a warmer energy and proud ownership of his own material that has put fresh (rechargeable) batteries in Kasabian’s mood
Kasabian have never truly been a critic’s band. A group who wanted to make music for the people, their openness, and propensity for big, festival-smashing
Kasabian have never truly been a critic’s band. A group who wanted to make music for the people, their openness, and propensity for big, festival-smashing
Minus disgraced former frontman Tom Meighan the band are tighter, but their realignment feels like a work in progress
Minus disgraced former frontman Tom Meighan the band are tighter, but their realignment feels like a work in progress
Conceived in a spirit of celebration, Kasabian's eighth LP is a concise, stadium-friendly set of danceable, infectiousness pop-rock for life's brighter moments.
Conceived in a spirit of celebration, Kasabian's eighth LP is a concise, stadium-friendly set of danceable, infectiousness pop-rock for life's brighter moments.
The lad-favourites shift into neon hues on their second Serge Pizzorno-led album, as knockout choruses face off against some disappointing filler
The lad-favourites shift into neon hues on their second Serge Pizzorno-led album, as knockout choruses face off against some disappointing filler
If this tightly honed album had been a young band’s debut, we’d be clambering over ourselves to proclaim Kasabian rock’s saviours
If this tightly honed album had been a young band’s debut, we’d be clambering over ourselves to proclaim Kasabian rock’s saviours
Eighth album from Leicester electro-rockers lacks heft. Album New Music review by Thomas H Green
Eighth album from Leicester electro-rockers lacks heft. Album New Music review by Thomas H Green