Review: Something is Happening... by GUPPY via LAUREN

In 2022, Washington's GUPPY put out Big Man Says Slappy Doo, an excellent garage rock album with tight jams and zany lyricism. From there the band put out "Texting and Driving" in 2023 as a single. The hook on the track is stadium rock big and its sonics completely pushed the boundaries of what came before. Now the band put out their new record, Something is Happening... which came out back in May of this year. Yes, not to break immersion, Something is Happening released five months ago but given how much GUPPY means to this blog and the fact the record came out during our break this year I wanted to make sure this got out before year end list season.

It's always been clear GUPPY has a sense of humor, but we actually start on a serious note. The album's title track serves as a narration to metamorphosis, an internal shift so impossible to pin down but also one which makes all the sense in the world. "Candied Pecans" as well as "Nature Song," both toward the end, are such nice moments of this band's day to day. "Candied Pecans" is a more traditional GUPPY song about a little treat while "Nature Song" is a bit of a curveball instrumentally and sees the band coming together for yard work. Still, the humorous does meet the metaphor even on looser tracks like "Don't Choke." Here J Lebow sings a verse about how moments work and how looking for them can lead to missing out.
Every moment of my life has led up to this, but seriously, no pressure.
Because every moment of my life leads to every other moment in my life
That's how moments work, that's how feelings hurt.

Speaking of "Don't Choke" the band have written a permanent show opener here. Self deprecating yourself as "the band no one knows" is something a new listener or someone who catches you live by accident will remember forever. Its this mixed with an almost children's show composition which feels just as whimsical as anything off of Big Man and shows me the band has certainly progressed but also know what makes them stand out. GUPPY also shouldn't sell themselves short, I can remember writing the review for Big Man back in 2022 and a lot of those tracks had barely any plays, hardly the case here, even less so when I'm five months late to covering Something is Happening. If you were a fan of the 2022 record, GUPPY has you covered with "Mayor Pt. 2." It does, yes, continue the narrative from the original track but it also is a spiritual extension of the entirety of Big Man. Between the guitar tones, the references to, not just "Mayor," but also "I'm Your Daddy Now" as well as the Muppet-like backing vocals it feels like experiencing Big Man in under four minutes. Similarly, the following "American Cowboy" carries this further by taking the cheeky, hero narrative from before and mixing it with the larger-than-life production of Something is Happening.
I'm an American cowboy and my stomach hurts like shit. I'm gonna find out what you love and I'm gonna demolish it.

On Something is Happening GUPPY have completely evolved while maintaining the character they've always demonstrated. While it took me quite a while to write and put this out, I've been jamming this all year and hopefully, if you're reading this, you get to sneak it in before the year is over as well.

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