London quartet Good Sad Happy Bad are immersed in the natural world on meditative new single ‘Shaded Tree’. Formerly known as Micachu & The Shapes, the band is comprised of its three original members Marc Pell, Mica Levi and Raisa Khan, with a bit of a shift including the addition of CJ Calderwood on saxophone, recorder and vocals while Khan stepped up as lead vocalist. ‘Shaded Tree’ is taken from upcoming album All Kinds of Days, which comes four years after their regroup debut Shades. The new track already sets a benchmark for the Good Sad Happy Bad’s collaborative talent. The day that’s described in ‘Shaded Tree’ appears to be one that is grounded in nature with the mantric repetition of ‘Let’s find a shaded tree / We can sit you and me / We can sit inside the sea’, which sounds as though it’s being spoken through an old box television. The avant-pop meets shoegaze sound that the band has previously been associated with strays into indie rock territory with a defining clangy riff setting the foundation. There’s a lightness to the rhythmic percussion which almost makes it feel improvisational as it mingles around blinking electronic notes. Most striking is the presence of the saxophone, which plays like shrill, distant calls of the wild. The kind that stop you in your tracks and draw your attention to the trees above. Despite its lo-fi grungy edge, the track even possesses an ambient quality in the interplay of its harmonics, which seem to come and go as they please. ‘Shaded Tree’ is certainly a good excerpt, potentially sitting somewhere between happy and sad. It’s a reason to get excited for the progression of Good Sad Happy Bad since their restructure, and for their return with All Kinds of Days, due on 8th November via Textile Records. -Kayla Sandiford