“The album is like a waking dream of ideas strung together in a nonlinear fashion,” says Matt Kidd. “I have been thinking more about what it means to be ‘Happy’ in the Occident. Happiness is often nothing more than a false promise used to sell something, even ideas. I dwell on the utter failure of that word, especially in comparison to something like the Greek word ‘eudaimonia.’”
To complement the sound of Happy Occident, Slow Meadow enlisted the talents of violinist Ellen Story, whose playing, Kidd says, dictated much of the direction on a couple of tracks.