I Want That You Are Always Happy

The debut studio album by Australian folk band The Middle East, titled *I Want That You Are Always Happy*, was released in Australia and New Zealand through Spunk Records on 8 April 2011. The album features one single, "Hunger Song," and peaked at number 11 on the Australian Album Chart, remaining on the chart for five weeks. It was recorded, mixed, and co-produced by Mark Myers across three studios in 2010: Townsville, Denton Studios in Texas, and a self-built studio in Cairns where most of the album was recorded.

The band initially considered self-producing but found their lack of production experience challenging, leading them to collaborate with Myers. The recording process was iterative, with multiple restarts due to dissatisfaction with earlier attempts, as noted by Rohin Jones. Jordan Ireland expressed that while the album wasn't fully original, it reflected their evolving creative goals.

The album received recognition, including a nomination for Australian Album of the Year at the 2011 J Awards and winning Album of the Year at the 2011 Queensland Music Awards.