HAPPY RHODES - MANY WORLDS ARE BORN TONIGHT - 1998

Musically, New Yorker avant-garde has given to us many of the greatest talents. Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Lydia Lunch, DJ Spooky and the late band The Swans are examples of the musical quality that comes from New York. But a lot of artists still don't get the attention they deserve. This is the case of Happy Rhodes, an important but underrated exponent of New Yorker avant-garde.

Rhodes may be ignored by the mainstream. However, she has won a growing cult of fans that include Tori Amos and ex-Swan Michael Gira. She is the kind of artist that one cannot find in magazines such as, say, Rolling Stone or Spin or even listen to on commercial radio stations. Nonetheless, in many independent radio programs and publications her musical presence is truly compelling.

In August, 1998, Happy Rhodes released her first album in three years, Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, a collection of emotional landscapes, intimate poetry, and twisted fairy tales. In this album, Rhodes mixes David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Tangerine Dream, Dead Can Dance, Bjork, David Sylvian and Portishead, sometimes in the same song. Many Worlds is probably her best and most experimental album to date.

The publication of Many Worlds, her first album with Samson Music, has raised a lot of expectations among her fans, expectations that seem to be satisfied. First, because it was her first studio album since her 1995 album Building the Colossus (not mentioning her 1995 compilation of live versions and rare cuts, The Keep). Second, because in Colossus, Happy took a lighter, more accessible direction. Finally , because after the breakup with Aural Gratification, her label until then, Rhodes announced that she was looking for a major label. With Many Worlds, Rhodes has reached a new peak of creativity, without loosing her artistic identity.

Many Worlds is certainly much darker and sometimes much harder to swallow than its two predecessors Equipoise and Building the Colossus. However, the music still keeps the enigmatic flavor and erudite lyrical style that always has characterized Happy's work. Some approximations to trip-hop (100 years), powerful songs a la David Bowie (Proof), and even ethereal but intense cuts (The Chariot, Winter) prove that this album is one of the most unique and intense masterpieces of 1998.

Happy Rhodes will continue to shine in her particular universe. The same universe she invites us to know about in her latest album Many Worlds Are Born Tonight.
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