Happiness Is Easy is the eighth studio album by Polish alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Myslovitz

Myslovitz

Myslovitz is a Polish rock band, whose music incorporates elements of college rock, shoegazing, and, arguably, Britpop. Since 2003, EMI Group has been attempting to establish them internationally, with considerable support from MTV Europe...

. The album overlooks Skalary, mieczyki, neonki

Skalary, mieczyki, neonki

Skalary, mieczyki, neonki is the seventh studio album by Polish alternative rock band Myslovitz. It was released out-of-schedule on December 4, 2004. The album is startlingly different from Myslovitz's other albums, abandoning the usual alt-rock sound in favour of psychedelic soundscapes and...

s psychedelic soundscapes and returns to sounds of 1999's Miłość w czasach popkultury and 2002's Korova Milky Bar

Korova Milky Bar

Korova Milky Bar is the fifth studio album by Polish alternative rock band Myslovitz. It was released in 2002, and followed in 2003 by a release of the English version, which in fact included four songs from the band's previous album, Miłość w czasach popkultury...

in the first and second half of the album respectively.

The title of the album is taken from the name of the first track on Talk Talk

Talk Talk

Talk Talk were an English musical group, active from 1981 to 1991. The group had a string of international hit singles including "Today", "Talk Talk", "It's My Life", "Such a Shame", "Dum Dum Girl", "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World"....

's album The Colour of Spring

The Colour of Spring

-Personnel:* Mark Hollis - Organ, Keyboards, Guitar, Piano, Vocals, Melodica, Mellotron* Lee Harris - Percussion, Drums* Paul Webb - Bass, vocals, backing vocals* Tim Friese-Greene - producer, Piano, keyboards, Mellotron, Kurzweil synthesizer...

. Further reference to New Wave music

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 is found in the title of track seven, which references the Talking Heads

Talking Heads

Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...

.

The songs make multiple references to recent news stories at the time of recording, and so, "Książę życia umiera" is about George Best

George Best

George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...

's "Don't die like me" message. "W deszczu maleńkich żółtych kwiatów" is notable as the first Myslovitz song to feature a female vocal, with Maria Peszek

Maria Peszek

Maria Peszek is a Polish actress, singer and songwriter.- Biography :She was born in Wrocław, Poland into a family of actors. She debuted in a theatrical adaptation of Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass in 1995 at Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków. She graduated from acting school in...

 singing in duet with Artur Rojek

Artur Rojek

Artur Rojek is the guitarist and lead singer of the Polish alternative rock group Myslovitz. He and the lead guitarist Wojciech Powaga founded the Mysłowice-based group in 1992...

. "Ściąć wysokie drzewa" refers to the Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda is a 2004 American drama film directed by Terry George. It was adapted from a screenplay written by both George and Keir Pearson. Based on real life events which took place in Rwanda during the spring of 1994, the film stars Don Cheadle as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, who attempts to...

movie - the title translates as "cut down tall trees" - a coded message broadcast by Hutu-friendlty TV stations, starting the Tutsi massacre.

Track listing

1. "Fikcja jest modna" (Fiction is fashionable) - 2:37
2. "Ściąć wysokie drzewa" (Cut down tall trees) - 4:23
3. "Mieć czy być" (To have or to be) - 3:12
4. "Spacer w bokserskich rękawicach" (A walk in boxing gloves) - 3:34
5. "Kilka uścisków, kilka snów" (A couple hugs, a couple dreams) - 4:07
6. "W deszczu maleńkich żółtych kwiatów" (In the rain of smallest yellow flowers) - 4:52
7. "Gadające głowy 80-06" (Talking Heads 80-06) - 4:30
8. "Ty i ja i wszystko co mamy" (You and I and all we have) - 3:40
9. "Nocnym pociągiem aż do końca świata" (On a night train to the end of the world) - 4:26
10. "Książę życia umiera" (The prince of life dies) - 3:41
11. "Złe mi się śni" (Bad dreams) - 3:34
12. "Znów wszystko poszło nie tak" (Everything went wrong again) - 4:25
13. "Czytanka dla niegrzecznych" (A reading-book for the rude) - 6:50

Singles

• "Mieć czy być" (won a popular vote for being the first single from the album) (2006)
• "Nocnym pociągiem aż do końca świata" (2006)
• "W deszczu maleńkich żółtych kwiatów" (2007)
• "Znów wszystko poszło nie tak" (2007)