The Underground of Happiness

Another instalment of delightful, pastoral folk music with a brilliant light and breezy touch from the band built around the very prolific Katie English and Keiron Phelan . Brona McVittie has joined on harp and vocals for their third album to add to the already intoxicating mix of guitars, flutes and clarinets. The irresistible ‘Some may transition’ is a perfect example, being the aural equivalent of a picture perfect summer meadow, a gorgeous dreamy atmosphere with just a hint of the exotic (could be those cascading harp glissandos) reminiscient of Eden Ahbez, maybe if he’d been English instead of American. The press release uses a phrase, “kitsch utopianism”, which I like because it suggests they are interrogating the very idea of happiness as opposed to simply trying to evoke it. To this end, you’ll find a sumptuous minimalism-meets-romanticism guitar flute and harp three hander in ‘The last summer of the century’. ‘The singing sands’ is for all the world like a...

This is an intoxicating album of playful, (mostly) instrumental tunes from Kieron Phelan and Katie English (their second as littlebow , both for Second Language ), combining avant garde foundations with a great accessibility – a fair reflection of both of their previous work across a broad range of musical contexts. As mentioned in other reviews, there is more than a shade of children’s tv themes about a lot of this album which should give a wide entry point for many people – it certainly floats my boat. I particularly love the beautiful jazz drone with shimmering keys, with the embedded-in-the-mix flute melody of ‘Part time blind’. Fans of Gamelan music might recognise some if its beautiful, compelling structures and textures in ‘The pin point night’ (Katie English, I’ve learned, is a member of at least one London-based Gamelan ensemble, among her many other activities). But I find I keep coming back to the same three tracks again and again. The title track opener w...