Alex Highton - Welcome to Happiness (2018)

Third album from Liverpool born singer-songwriter Alex Highton. Rather than the acoustic bucolic musings of ""Woodditton Wives Club"" (""a masterpiece,"" according to Heaven Magazine in Holland, ""World class,"" said the Guardian) or his disconcerting take on existence that was ""Nobody Knows Anything"" (""Sufjan Stevens like audacity....4 Stars"" Mojo Magazine""), his new album expands his sound into a something much more complex and sonically adventurous. As a kid his time was split between his native Liverpool and Florence, Italy, after his parents' divorce. Liverpool has a musical heritage that is impossible to escape but it was during the summers, whilst devouring his Dad's amazingly eclectic record collection , that his musical education began, taking in everything from Talking Heads & Penguin Café Orchestra to David Ackles & Bowie. He lost his twenties to bad decisions and then struggling through some kind of breakdown, he started to take songwriting seriously. The songs he wrote (part therapy / part love letter his new life) formed the basis of his debut album, a record replete with tales of rural S&M, mental, emotional and economic collapse, and ultimately salvation through love and family. For the new album Alex locked himself away in the studio with producer/multi instrumentalist Jonathan Czerwik, and started putting together the songs that would fill ""Welcome To Happiness"". In their downtime they discussed artists they loved and would inform the new album - Can, The Flaming Lips, Beck, Prince, Steely Dan, Bon Iver, Serge Gainsbourg, Here We Go Magic, The Beach Boys, Bowie, Neu, tons more...""We threw all this stuff into the pot and just said 'let's see what happens'. Witness ""Benny Is A Heartbreaker"" reminiscent of Hot Chip & Talking Heads with it's electro beats and slick grooves and ""Love Is Enough"", referencing David Ackles & Luis Bunuel but sounding like something cooked up by Luke Temple and ELO.