The Guggenheim Grotto – Happy the Man

Album Reviews • Wednesday December 10th, 2008 • 12:57 pm

The handiwork of today’s Irish songwriters stand heads above the masses for the most part. Glen Hansard and his compatriots in The Frames, Damien Rice and Damien Dempsey are just a few creating beautiful music from The Emerald Isle and The Guggenheim Grotto readily joins this growing group. This Dublin-based band instantly makes an impression on their sophomore album, Happy The Man, and if you are a fan of great harmonies, melodic arrangements, and intelligent folk rock sound then this album belongs in your collection. To not recognize the beauty and effort put into this release is simply inexcusable.

The album begins with a short intro from a woman speaking in a futuristic voice talking about death and how perfect everything is. I’m not quite sure what this has to do with the album, other than setting the mood for the first song. Then again, maybe I’m just not that deep of a person to understand the meaning. But from the start of the opening track, “Fee Da Da Dee,” Guggenheim Grotto presents a new wave sound that gives Happy The Man some credible flair – a great retrofitted arrangement of instrumentation that has a very familiar beat. This track has today’s popular 1980s throwback written all over it and reminds the listener of M83’s “Kim and Jessie.”

The artistic direction of Happy the Man continues in the same throwback vein, reinterpreting the sounds of those who’ve gone before in memorable ways. For example, you can hear remnants of Poi Dog Pondering in the tune “Her Beautiful Ideas” yet it’s recreated with an original perspective. “Everyman” is the album’s high point, witha sound that imagines Sean Lennon meets Karl Wallinger, with a touch of Tears for Fears. The clarity and emotion found throughout is amazing.

Then you have the surprisingly natural and woozy feeling of “Sunshine Makes Me High,” complete with the obvious subject matter in tow. They even went so far as making this the only song in the CD jacket where the lyrics spin in a spiral circle. The pinnacle of the song showcases harmonies perfectly blending and landing me right back into memories of Crowded House and the like. “Oh Nikita” is a slow tempo number the easily paints a vivid picture with lines like “I was meant for the movies.” Lyrically the work of Kevin May and Mick Lynch find a way to intrigue and convey their metaphors. The album ends with a quiet and reflective number called “Heaven Has A Heart,” where the lyrics describe a tale of getting knocked down to know that something greater is bound to follow.

Tagged as: Dublin, Ireland, singer/songwriter