''The Happiness Project'' is the title of

Charles Spearin Charles Spearin is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist from Toronto, Ontario. He is primarily known as a founding member of indie rock bands Do Make Say Think and Broken Social Scene. Career As a teen, Spearin studied at Etobicoke School of the A ...

's debut album. Best known for his work with Toronto-based bands

Do Make Say Think Do Make Say Think is a Canadian instrumental band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1995. Their music combines jazz-style drumming, distorted guitars and wind instruments, and prominent bass guitar. Biography The band formed in 1995 as a recording ...

and

Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band and musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the ...

, Charles Spearin began performing samples of The Happiness Project live during Broken Social Scene concerts, offering insight into the inspiration and concept of the album, which was long-listed for the 2009

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize. The prize was inc ...

. On April 17, 2010, Spearin won a Juno Award for the Best Contemporary Jazz Album for ''The Happiness Project''.

Concept

The project sprang from casual interviews with people in Spearin's neighbourhood on the subject of happiness.

After each interview I would listen back to the recording for moments that were interesting in both meaning and melody. By meaning I mean the thoughts expressed, by melody I mean the cadence and inflection that give the voice a sing-song quality. It has always been interesting to me how we use sounds to convey concepts. Normally, we don’t pay any attention to the movement of our lips and tongue, and the rising and falling of our voices as we toss our thoughts back and forth to each other. We just talk and listen. The only time we pay attention to these qualities is in song. (Just as when we read we don’t pay attention to the curl and swing of the letters as though they were little drawings.) Meaning seems to be our hunger but we should still try to taste our food. I wanted to see if I could blur the line between speaking and singing - life and art? - and write music based on these accidental melodies. So I had some musician friends play, as close as they could, these neighbourhood melodies on different instruments (Mrs. Morris on the tenor saxophone, Marisa on the harp, my daughter Ondine on the violin, etc.) and then I arranged them as though they were songs. –
Charles Spearin Charles Spearin is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist from Toronto, Ontario. He is primarily known as a founding member of indie rock bands Do Make Say Think and Broken Social Scene. Career As a teen, Spearin studied at Etobicoke School of the A ...
, on ''The Happiness Project''About The Happiness Project
Arts & Crafts: The Happiness Project by Charles Spearin, Retrieved 15 June 2009

Guest appearances

Performers on the album include fellow

members

Kevin Drew Kevin Drew (born September 9, 1976) is a Canadian musician and songwriter who, together with Brendan Canning, founded the expansive Toronto baroque-pop collective Broken Social Scene. He was also part of the lesser-known KC Accidental, which con ...

and

Evan Cranley Evan Whitney Cranley is a Canadian musician based in Montreal, Quebec. He records with the bands Stars and Broken Social Scene, although he considered joining the band Metric before finally joining Stars. Musical career Early on, Cranley was in ...

as well as fellow

member

Justin Small Do Make Say Think is a Canadian instrumental band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1995. Their music combines jazz-style drumming, distorted guitars and wind instruments, and prominent bass guitar. Biography The band formed in 1995 as a recording ...

Track listing

# "Mrs. Morris" # "Anna" # "Vittoria" # "Vanessa" # "Marisa" # "Ondine" # "Mr. Gowrie" # "Mrs. Morris (reprise)"

References

External links

The Happiness Project
official website
Art & Crafts page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Happiness Project, The 2009 albums Arts & Crafts Productions albums