Ontario’s Charles Spearin is probably best known as the founding member of Do Make Say Think or as a part of the tremendous Broken Social Scene. He also contributes to Valley of the Giants, the post-rock supergroup.
As pronounced as his career has been thus far as a member of those aforementioned groups, there may be nothing more interesting and engaging than Spearin’s solo debut. The Happiness Project is a concept album, to be sure, and the concept is the pure, unadulterated pursuit of happiness through the exploration of rhythm, tone and mood in speech.
The concept for The Happiness Project is a simple and surprising one. Spearin interviewed people from his neighbourhood on the subject of happiness. In listening to the interviews after they were completed, the musician honed in on the natural sing-song quality of the voices and on the naturally occurring rhythms in speech patterns, seeking to blur the lines between speech and song.
The results are phenomenal, challenging and invigorating. The Happiness Project, through the use of instruments to accompany the interviews. At times we can barely hear the voices, shadowed as they are by elegant saxophone or piano. Sometimes Spearin will run a loop of a particularly melodic passage of speech, building a song with the atmosphere and cadence of the interview.
Pure joy keeps The Happiness Project from being another nutty experimental jazz concept album and makes it into a lush, joyful, profound piece of art. It is one of the best records of the year.
The songs are named for the interview subjects, with “Mrs. Morris” getting the distinct privilege of bookending the record. She offers uncomplicated, eloquent points about the nature of happiness, telling us that love is what truly matters and that we must love one another in order to truly love ourselves. Over her marvellously touching words, a tenor saxophone shadows her tone. “Good morning, what could make you so happy?” says Mrs. Morris. “Love.”
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
great stuff jordan. i really have to get this. reminds me of an expansion of what Steve Reich did with Different Trains.
2 - Tom Johnson
Beautiful album. One of the most emotional, weird, stunning pieces of work I've heard in ages. Not something I can listen to all the time, but when I do, it's amazing. Never fails to put a smile on my face while listening to it.
3 - zingzing
this is a pretty fascinating piece of work. i love it when a good idea works out like this. if it had come out under another name (like bss), it would be up for album of the year consideration.