Full Power Happy Hour present sprawling introspective jangly country music. Often tender and fragile, while at other times a rougher edge emerges - equal parts indebted to the jangle sounds of New Zealand/Australian 80’s bands such as The Clean and The Triffids as well as the intimacy of ‘60s folk singers like Joni Mitchell.

Opening track ‘Old Mind of Mine’ is a soaring and cathartic musing on political apathy and needing time away from the rat race. The subtle harmonies give a sense that the narrator is not alone, however, with vocalist Alex Campbell firmly at the forefront of the mix it is her story. As Campbell asks questions, the harmonies join in rather than answering, reiterating the feelings of loss and alienation that are present on this track. It is essentially a song in two parts, as Campbell finds the solution to her ailments in the hope of getting away.

‘Heart Fell Out’ is a song full of vulnerability, perfectly capturing feelings of ‘hangxiety’ - when you wake up after a big night full of regret. It is a personal narrative about the feelings that used to come to Campbell from singing with a sense of unabashed honesty. Whilst so personal, it is also incredibly relatable for many as the night before runs around in one’s mind. One of the most interesting songs on the album is ‘Peter’, opening with a propelling bassline that sounds almost post-punk within the alt-country world that Full Power Happy Hour exists in. Campbell’s voice sounds rougher than most of the other songs, while she sings a character narrative about someone who lost everything in a natural disaster. The harmonies on this track provide a sense of solidarity for ‘Peter’, and all those fallen on hard times.

Full Power Happy Hour flutter between the inside and outside world as they meld the personal with the political, in a way that allows listeners to either dig deep into the world-weary lyrics or just let the jangle-country wash over them. To celebrate this beautiful and stunningly honest listen, Alex has shared with us the meanings behind most of the album’s tracks, while understandably keeping a few of the most personal moments to herself.

Old Mind Of Mine

It was partly inspired by the first school strike for climate change - which made me contemplate how one can be truly empathetic in a world of people merely paying lip service to injustice - and it’s about clearing your head in nature.

Heart Fell Out

This one's about how scary it can be playing music sometimes, especially when you're performing really personal songs. When I first started performing I used to have this weird feeling in the morning after a gig, that I'd somehow humiliated myself, like that feeling when you get really drunk and the next day you can't remember what happened but you have this bad feeling that you embarrassed yourself… the song's about that feeling.

Morning Juju

'Morning Juju’, to put it plainly, is about the fight against sexual harassment and violence against women, it’s about my own experience and all my friend's stories too, it's about being so tired of having to put up with it, and tired of no one ever being held accountable for the violence perpetrated, legally and socially.

Crying Over Stitches

‘Crying Over Stitches’ is about the ending of friendships, growing apart from childhood friends, and friends leaving Brisbane, because a lot of them do that...!

Peter

It was a few years ago and I was watching the news on TV one night and it was after a cyclone and flooding had happened up north, and the interviewer just kept asking this guy questions, and this guy had lost someone in the cyclone, and he just looked so exhausted, he was obviously grieving and in shock, and like being interviewed was the last thing he wanted to be doing. I don't know why but I just started writing a poem about this guy, I didn't know his name or anything, but I reckon he looked like a Peter. And then it sort of became a poem about natural disasters, we have a lot of them in this country, and how the government doesn't do a whole lot to support communities who are affected by them, drought, floods, bush fires, and taking no action on climate change. How the media sometimes just wants a good story but doesn't care about actual people... the poem was for all people who'd been through all that, and then the song came out of that poem.

Steely Fences

‘Steely Fences’ is about thinking back on life or looking at your life and wondering if you've made the right decisions or choices, about love or life or relationships, and it's also about how important it is to remain true to oneself sometimes when making these kinds of choices but how it can be hard to do so. It's a bit about what boundaries mean too, and starting anew with new boundaries... (hope that makes sense!!)