Rich Bennett ‘On Holiday’ – Underground of Happiness
Excerpt: “Beautiful summery album from the New York composer and multi-instrumentalist. The first surprise is that Mr Bennett has an appealingly reedy voice (sometimes reminiscient of Bob Mould, to my ears), for someone whose last album was wholly instrumental. Like that album, the Beach Boys’ trademark left-right keyboard alternations are evident here, along with some pleasantly disorientating slide guitar. There’s the wonderful wooziness of ‘EPO’, with its whistled main melody and dreamy high-register synths, recalling Angelo Badalamenti soundtracks (indeed, the instrumental coda, ‘Green Memories’, with its ominous, shifting keyboard patterns, would be right at home in a David Lynch film.) The samba shuffle of ‘Night Part 1′ also stands out, with a beautiful vibes arrangement, capped with an ecstatic double saxophone solo over church organ. The overall mood though, despite the uplifting textures, is something like displacement, which after all is one effect of being on holiday. Highly recommended.”
