Superhuman Happiness

Under the leadership of multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie, indie party supergroup Superhuman Happiness was founded in Brooklyn in 2008. Their party-friendly sounds mixed composition, improvisation, and a groove-heavy sense of rhythm. Songwriter, saxophonist, and vocalist Bogie was joined by guitarist/vocalists Luke O'Malley and Ryan Ferreira, keyboardist Jared Samuel, trumpet player Eric Biondo, bassist Nikhil Yerawadekar, and drummer Miles Arntzen. The group's joyful and uplifting mix of pop and improv reached its apex in their exuberant performances, and apart from various tours and festivals, they were regulars at famed Brooklyn performance and culture hub Zebulon. The group's recorded output was fruitful and varied, with debut album Fall Down Seven Times Stand Up Eight seeing release in 2009; The Physical EP in 2011, and a series of 7" singles and web-released videos coming in waves between 2010 and 2012. The band also appeared on the Red Hot + Rio 2 compilation, collaborating on a track with Cults, as well working on the soundtrack to the 2011 documentary film How to Survive a Plague. Most of the bandmembers split their time in various bands as working musicians, adding their talents to projects as wide reaching as Iron & Wine, Cibo Matto, and Antibalas, but coming together as schedules allowed to work on recordings and performances with Superhuman Happiness. Once everyone was finally in the same place, 2013 saw the fruits of their labor with the release of their second proper full-length album Hands.