Notes
'Happy Rhodes magically combines the lush, ethereal lightness of Kate Bush with the eerie rock and roll edge of David Bowie.' --Queenie, GUITARLAB MAGAZINE guitarlab.co.kr Many Worlds Are Born Tonight is the crowning masterpiece album from enigmatic songwriter Happy Rhodes. Rhodes, who lives a simple, quiet life in rural upstate New York with her husband, is one of the greatest secret gems ever to grace the musical world. Her perfect four-octave range voice will capture you with it's immediate brilliance and carry you away with it's seductive depths. No other singer, regardless of genre, can compete with Rhode's sultry lows, which bring to mind Annie Lennox and David Bowie. Her angelic high range is tinged with the essence of Kate Bush, strangely operatic, infinitely gorgeous. It is almost impossible to listen to Happy Rhodes's music and resist becoming one of her underground legion of fans, who are known affectionately as Ectophiles. Named after Happy's fourth album, the Ecto mailing list began in 1991 (as an offshoot of a Kate Bush Internet newsgroup) following Happy's music and expanded to encompass music with female vocals, intelligent songwriting, and innovative sounds. Happy's music, the leader of the Ecto music trend, has created a diverse independent listener base around the world. Rhodes is a storyteller, creating captivating environments in each song. Travel the musical journey of Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, and join the independent revolution. -- Kim Steele =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= PULSE! (John Diliberto), August 1998 -- Happy Rhodes is an upstate New York singer-songwriter and vocal chameleon who has been working an extraordinary magic for years on 10 self-produced albums. She draws immediate comparisons to Kate Bush: Her voice leaps to the same precarious highs, but she also touches deeper, seductive lows. At times her voice is knowing, poignant and serene, ascending into choirs, then whispering huskily into your ear that "Everything I do is madness." Rhodes has always delved into dark, interior states of mind, often arising out of a troubled childhood. Orchestrating a textured electronica landscape, she makes inquiries into God, existence and on "100 Years" computer games. Swampy, distorted percussion, searing e-bow guitars and looping melodies populate the interior rooms of a wired world, in which Happy Rhodes is a cyber-troubadour, keeping watch on our souls. (4 * out of 5) -- John Diliberto =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= HEARTBEATS CATALOG -- Happy Rhodes fans were possibly a bit put-off by the dense electronic textures and bleak lyrics, but if so, they missed out on her best work in years, perhaps ever. Her song topics have never been cheery, and she's never been a simple guitar-strumming minstrel either. The synthesizers are perfectly appropriate to the futuristic subject matter, and because she has loved electronic music since she was a child, they feel natural and authentic to her sound. On top of these dense soundscapes, Happy piles layers of her prodigious vocals, ranging from lovely high ornaments to those warm lows that no one else on the planet can produce. 'Ra is a Busy God' updates an instrumental that appeared on an Aural Gratification compilation a couple of years ago, and the vocals actually improve what had been one of my favorites from those collections. '100 Years' proves that Happy really does understand the cyborg mind. 'The Chariot' is a little closer to her other work, sad and beautiful all at once. And 'Serenading Genius' is the catchiest pop tune you will never hear on the radio. The sound of the CD may not be as immediately inviting as some of her previous recordings, but if you give it a chance, the tunes will get under your skin. Of course, then they will probably organize, make their way to your brain and implant some scary mechanism that no one understands. It's OK, it's worth it. Resistance is futile. Get Happy and tell everyone you know
