Happiness is happening

" With its airy synth-gurgle, "We Have A Nice Life" sounds like it was designed for the Pop Ambient series until it slowly shrugs itself to life. "All That Matters" drifts and bobs in currents of slow, warbling tones and translucent pads. And yet, across this ever-transforming musical landscape, you always feel escorted along by an expert guide. The sequencing is superb. For such a genre-defying album, Happiness Is Happening is a work of impressive coherence, and of an artist, some 20 years into his career, still very much at the peak of his powers".

Læs anmeldelse

"A goodly portion of Happiness Is Happening finds Flügel stretching out and trying out new styles-or styles new to his catalog, anyway. The delightful "Friendship Song" borrows the chord changes from Grimes' "Oblivion" and turns it into a Depeche Mode song circa Speak & Spell, and "Wilkie", similarly springy and similarly naïve, strikes up a dialogue with the New Order of Power, Corruption & Lies ... Two songs in particular show what a versatile producer he can be. The opening "Connecting the Ghost" explores a slow-fast "motorik" pulse, its stately, chugging beat a foil for Flügel to indulge in creamy textures and squealing oscillators; the quick-stepping "Occult Levitation" offers little more than a steady patter of lawn-sprinkler hi-hats and rosy sunrise glow. Both, in their way, are genre studies-Krautrock and techno, respectively-but more than that, they're examples of Flügel's unique sensibility, deft touch, and expressive, unmistakable voice".

Læs anmeldelse