DECAYCAST Reviews : HAPPINESS FOREVER “Primitive Dimension” Cassette (Mondo Anthem!, 2018)
Another short but powerful offering from the PACNW’s Happiness Forever, titled “Primitive Dimension”, which is aptly titled for this minimal but powerful sonic offering, A dark pulsing arpeggiated square wave synth opens the track, slowly and effortlessly edging the listener to the edge of the cliff out of the gate. Hard stereo panning madness ala Phedora era Tangerine Dream when the tech left too many fuzz pedals in the chain in the best way. Lower pitched synths slowly undulate as the panoramic view widens and we are left confronting out demons. Pulses slowly phase and undulate across the spectrum of rhythmic militancy, shifting ever so slightly to create a psychedelic fuzz of confusion. Long drawn out bell-like sounds breathe in the background creating tension and thickening up the form to a dense, stew of synthesizer sludge.
Perfectly timed, the A side gives breath to a more subtle and sparse (but equally dark and unsettling) B side which begins with murky, basement synthesizer swells, ringing inside the cochlear with beautiful collapsing sine waves, radiant, insect-like buzzing sounds, throttled tones of a disharmonious and gray sunset. Happiness Forever creates peaceful yet slightly unsettling and dissonant tone poems for fans of drone, ambient and synthesizer music. All the individual synth voices sprout equal trees within a sonic forest of psychedelic electronic explorations.
D E C A Y C A S T Magazine 