New Album: Luther Russell || Happiness For Beginners
Winsome melodies powered by a 12-string Rickenbacker
Luther Russell has been churning out reliably excellent college rock since the ’80s—mostly solo, but sometimes with Those Pretty Wrongs (his outfit with Jody Stephens of Big Star). For his new album, Happiness For Beginners, he partnered with the LA based Curation Records, home of Beachwood Sparks and the Uni Boys. Certainly, Happiness For Beginners is consistent with the Curation Records modus operandi: sparkling pop gems with smatterings of sepia-tinted country and languorous psychedelia. This album stands out from the pack, though, because all 10 songs are powered by a 12 string Rickenbacker, giving the LP a jangly foundation for Russell’s rich baritone and winsome melodies.
It’s a strong record all the way through, but the best songs highlight Russell’s varied interests. Single Downtown Girls is driven by a propulsive, highly syncopated drum performance, recalling cult heroes The dB’s and The Windbreakers; elsewhere, the drone of And Ever, filled with lurid images of “blood on the ground,” evokes the post-hippy haze of Love’s Forever Changes. Ostensibly a loose concept album about “the folly of young romance” (according to Russell), the lyrics on Happiness For Beginners are more kaleidoscopic and foreboding than even that description would imply. A key line from Right Way: “It’s the death of a dream that startles your heart in the night, and the breath of a scream will fill you as you wake in fright.”
If you’re already familiar with Russell’s work, then you can enjoy another wonderful set of songs with Happiness For Beginners. If not, this serves as a wonderful entry point to the catalog of an underrated songwriter.
Happiness For Beginners is out now on Curation Records.