One of many highlights of Broken Social Scene’s performance at CMJ last fall was the presentation of “Mrs. Morris,” the first song from Charles Spearin’s Happiness Project. Spearin, fascinated by the musical qualities of speech, interviewed his neighbors, friends and family members about happiness, then set those interviews to song. Though Spearin says he never expected the Happiness Project to go beyond his living room, he released an album of material on February 14, put together a band and took the record on the road, stopping at New York City’s swanky Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday night.
Spearin and his eight-piece band began with “Mrs. Morris,” the most straight-forward format of speech to song. As he did at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in October, he played just the recording of her voice, then played it with a saxophone accompaniment.
Charles Spearin, “Mrs. Morris” (download)
With the rest of the pieces, the band experimented. In some cases, one sentence would be repeated in a sort of minimalist style, as with “Vanessa,” an interview with a woman who was born deaf, then at the age of 30 got a cochlear implant. Describing what it was like to hear, Vanessa said, “All of a sudden I found my body moving inside,” and the band repeated the notes of this phrase, then turned it into a sort of chant, singing the words over and over and clapping. For “Marisa” and “Mr. Gowrie,” just a few short snippets were played, then the band drew from those tones to create instrumental jams, not unlike those of Spearin’s main projects, Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think.
Charles Spearin, “Marisa” (download)
Taking a page from the Broken Social Scene concert format of everyone shares the spotlight, two of the Happiness Project band members got a chance to play their own projects. Ohad Benchetrit played “Don’t Let The Blind Go Deaf,” from his solo project Years, which will be released on Arts & Crafts (also the label of Broken Social Scene and the Happiness Project) in May, and Michael Barth, who plays the flugelhorn and trumpet, performed a piece by Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi. Each band member was noticeably talented, though, as they were all multi-instrumentalists. (more…)
