Pursuit of Happiness Overplays Its Strength

The Pursuit of Happiness is no revolutionary rock band, but it is one worth rallying around for listeners who think that a catchy melody and a hammering beat is a pop fan’s inalienable right. The strength of the Canadian band’s show on Saturday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano was its ability to send time and again a capsule of captivating melody into orbit on the shoulders of a booster-rocket instrumental surge.

But by overplaying its strength, TPOH turned it into a flaw. Like space launches, those catchy pop blast-offs became a little routine with successful repetition, no matter how magnificent they might be individually. It would have helped if the band, which plays again Tuesday at Bogart’s, had slowed the pace from time to time during the 80-minute set, instead of making nearly everything hurtle ahead at full thrust.

If The Pursuit of Happiness can be criticized for following a formula, it’s only fair to appreciate how much fun that formula is, with bright, Bangles-quality female backing vocals cushioning the propulsive attack and propping up Moe Berg’s Everyman lead voice. Berg’s songs about “Love Junk”--the title of TPOH’s debut album--address matters of the heart and loins from shifting perspectives that ranged from crude to offbeat to winsomely innocent. The five new songs confirmed old strengths rather than pointing toward new directions.