Kasabian ★★★
Happenings
COLUMBIA. CD/DL/LP
Twenty years after their first album comes their eighth.
Two LPs beyond the awkward departure of singer Tom Meighan, Kasabian still haven’t quite regained the swagger of their pomp, but if 2022’s The Alchemist’s Euphoria was an attempt to steady the ship, Happenings finds them keen to steam ahead. “Not here for a long time,” declares singer Serge Pizzorno on Algorithms which closes a 29-minute, filler-free LP, “here for a good time.” Short it may be, but Happenings is full of ideas, from Kasabian’s trademark processed beats – super heavy on How Far Will You Go and standout Hell Of It; super poppy on Darkest Lullaby – to the Chili Peppers-inflected verses of Passengers and its shoutalong chorus. Right now, they seem in as good a place as they’ve been for years, and that they’re doing it so succinctly bodes well. As someone once said, less is more.