CHARLES SPEARIN – THE HAPPINESS PROJECT

So much can be said to describe this extraordinary project, it’s hard know where to begin. At face value, what we have here is essentially a free-jazz experiment from Charles Spearin, longstanding member of do-no-wrong Canadian force Broken Social Scene. But it’s much more than that. Fans of BSS and its related spin-offs will note the multi-instrument soundscapes that have become a signature of the BSS mold; however instead of writing songs to orchestrate during the recording process, Spearin has crafted an album in the opposite direction, letting the music come to him from the real world, and shape his instrumental skills into music that is fully organic, and startlingly alive. Beginning with a series of recorded interviews with neighbourhood personalities in his hometown in Toronto, Spearin explores the concept of happiness through philosophical conversations with the young and the old, the deaf and the mute. These friendly folks’ dialogue act as the melodies of the project, leading all the instruments of Spearin’s canon around as if on a string; saxophones, basses, guitars, percussion, cellos, all twist and sway to mimic the natural music of the spoken word, and Spearin uses these worldly and bizarre tunes to fashion into multi-layered pieces that have a surprising musical logic. Unexpectedly moving, this project is a stroke of genius of the most unconventional and refreshing kind.

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