Whether it's made explicit or not, albums that arrive hot on the heels of their predecessors usually stand in certain relation to them. Such is the case with Happiness Is Going to Get You, the latest from Canadian pop chameleon Allie X (born Alexandra Hughes), which forms a ghostly '90s shadow cast by last year's full-on '80s homage, Girl with No Face.So laser-focused was that album on maintaining its rigid Eurythmics-core template that it's perhaps unsurprising an entire second LP was forced out by its brooding inward pressure. Built from ideas captured on the fly during its recording (snippets of hastily recorded voice-memos pop up intermittently for flavour), this offering is instead full of shimmering, airy production, reverb galore and rolling Fiona Apple chords in place of spiky synth arpeggios.Unsurprisingly, the result is a far more relaxed collection of songs. Although it's less intense and claustrophobic, it casts its eye just as keenly as Girl with No Face did over music history for its touchstones, this time drawing on the artier end of '90s and early-aughts pop. Also like its predecessor, Happiness Is Going to Get You can bask a little too luxuriously in the waters of its chosen zeitgeist when it could have benefitted from striking out against its waves a bit more — after all, those waterfalls can't remain un-chased forever."I Hope You Hear This Song" is probably the most egregious example, descending into full-throated "Bittersweet Symphony" mode by the end, majestic strings and all. But we'd be remiss in our pedantry if we didn't also mention Massive Attack, whose production notes to "Teardrop" might as well be super-imposed in block letters over brooding album closer "It's Just Light." Even pre-release single "Reunite" has the melody of Janet Jackson's "Together Again" entering the chat, although this one might be a dog whistle you have to be a certain age to hear. Broadcast, Portishead, Sneaker Pimps; it's hard to stop hearing it once you start, until suddenly every piece of feedback sounds like the end of Radiohead's "Karma Police."Does it make for a literate and sophisticated album? Yes. Does it sometimes feel like an Easter egg hunt for music nerds? Kind of, and while this sort of clever signposting is hardly an unacceptable artistic choice, Happiness Is Going to Get You is arguably at its strongest when the influences filter through more subtly.The confident spy-movie strut of "7th Floor" is a potent brew of trip-hop and big-beat ingredients, its massive drums the kind of thing Fatboy Slim would have spliced inane samples over in 1998. Even if slightly borrowed, it's dripping in style, transcending through sheer nostalgic force without being too specific.An amusing ode to a gambling, ne'er-do-well uncle, mid-album gem "Uncle Lenny" shines too. It's the sort of wry character study that Alex Cameron does so well, with a neo-classical retro synth bridge section giving a knowing wink to Wendy Carlos's seminal Switched-On Bach, of which Hughes is clearly a student. Co-producer Bastian Langebaek also deserves a shoutout here for helping give the synth and piano arrangements a chilly, OK Computer-esque profile, full of analogue squelches and other knob-twisting flourishes.Thankfully, there are enough moments like these ("Stay Green" is another highlight, surging with HAIM-like energy) to offset the album's more unimaginative tributes, which might leave one yearning for the more effortless cool of Super Sunset and the Collxtion albums. Hughes's talent continues to get across on Happiness Is Going to Get You, but it can sometimes feel smothered under art school studiousness and a collector's impulse. Once you've graduated, you don't always have to show your work.
Wavelength
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