If you took harps, accordions, bells, strings, horns, and symphonic percussion and you threw them all into an orchestra pit with a few blank score sheets, you might come up with something listenable, but I can guarantee it wouldn’t be nearly as beautiful as “Happy Apple” by The Daphnes. Entering and exiting on the tintinnabulation (thank you, Monica Schley, for giving me a reason to finally use that word in a sentence) of the aforementioned bells (or maybe a glockenspiel . . . see? Music this gorgeous practically gives itself over to lexiconic reviews), what comes between is the human race’s deepest longings—for love, for solace, for being needed, for sunshine—carefully distilled into six minutes of alternately delicate and pulsing arrangements.
Like Levi, I often wish my ear and brain were better attuned to lyrics and meaning in songs; as it is, I hear sounds, tones, melodies, and arrangements first, and then lyrics and vocals second, if at all. I can’t say how many times I’ve listened to “Happy Apple” and I still don’t know if those human longings revolve around anthropomorphic fruit, a birthday party, or a jazz trio, but I do know that my ears, my mind, and my heart are far happier for having discovered this gem on Ball of Wax 54.
Experience the tintinnabulation in person when The Daphnes – in duo formation – perform at this Friday’s Ball of Wax 54 show at Conor Byrne.