Slow Meadow - Happy Occident (Hammock Music)

WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE:

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WHAT WE SAY:

String enhanced, stress releaving, cultured yet not self serious neo-classical electronic fusion from Slow Meadow for HammockMusic as he, like so many artists in the growing ambient world, muses on this age of faux happiness, information overload, apps designed to obtain your personal data, sell you things and keep you hooked rather than aid productivity or wellbeing and a media focussing on negative news. Help is here.

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WHAT YOUR EARS SAY:

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WHAT THE PRESS RELEASE SAYS:

Two years following 2017’s Costero, Slow Meadow returns with its third full-length album Happy Occident, a collection of textured ambient melodies. Fueled by the anxiety derivative of modern life and the frenetic and often uncertain state of these ever-changing times, Happy Occident provides music for reflection. A soundtrack to life’s contemplative moments, and an experience akin to mindfulness meditation.

“The album is like a waking dream of ideas strung together in a nonlinear fashion,” says Matt Kidd. “I have been thinking more about what it means to be ‘Happy’ in the Occident. Happiness is often nothing more than a false promise used to sell something, even ideas. I dwell on the utter failure of that word, especially in comparison to something like the Greek word ‘eudaimonia.’”

To complement the sound of Happy Occident, Slow Meadow enlisted the talents of violinist Ellen Story, whose playing, Kidd says, dictated much of the direction on a couple of tracks.