Music

Track Of The Week: "Happy Alone" by Saintseneca

by Chris Budd

Here’s my anti-Valentine’s Day song, going out to everyone riding solo today.

Take a listen to “Happy Alone” by Columbus, Ohio band Saintseneca from the upcoming album Dark Arc (out April 1st via Anti). The band is led by singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist Zac Little who originally hails from rural Appalachia. Twisting the music of the old weird America into new shapes (a la Violent Femmes or Neutral Milk Hotel), Saintseneca perform songs that sound both familiar and original, utilizing a wide range of acoustic instrumentation with more contemporary elements such as synthesizers and electric guitars.

Little says of the song “Happy Alone,” “This is a love song, a meditation on doom, the joy and the transcendence in all of that. I found the song in a bass that was half melted from the time when my bedroom had burned down. I didn’t even know the bass worked, but kept it anyway. One day I could feel the gravity coming from it, pulling on me. I plugged it into this raspy little amp and found all of these little songs with it, bouncing around in the reverb tank. There is joy in doom, and doom in joy.”

I searched and searched for a Soundcloud or Bandcamp stream of this track, but all I could find was the video. But for the sake of this post, its no different, right? Hit the play button and check out this stellar track (plus you get to watch a guy walk around with his head in a bubble).