Album Review: Leon Bridges - ‘Happiness Anytime’

Leon Bridges’ new album Happiness Anytime is out and lives up to its name, demonstrating

emotional release through music as a hopeful and joyful endeavor. The entire record is

peppered with good vibes and groovy goodness that will make you want to dance wherever you are when you hear it.

This is a record for the thinker and the feeler. Happiness Anytime encompasses intellectual

tidbits, incorporating multiple instrument families and classic styles of music beautifully

throughout its canon.“Please Don’t Say Goodbye” and “All Day, All Night” (featuring Lydia Kitto) do this particularly well, creating a soundscape of wonder for the listener. While an intricate and musically interesting body of work, listeners can just as easily play Happiness Anytime while drinking wine with a date, dancing in the kitchen, or having a good cry driving down the interstate — crying “Tears of Joy” or tears of sadness! (Although if you’re driving with “Fly Baby” on, you’re probably just vibing and having a car karaoke moment…)

If I had to critique this album, I do think some of the songs become a bit repetitive in pace and

feel. My feeling about artists and albums that sound repetitive is this: if you like what is being

repeated, then there really isn’t a problem; if you don’t like what is being repeated, then maybe

this work of art just wasn’t intended for you. All in all, Happiness Anytime is a fantastic body of

work, and listeners - whether the casual listener or longtime fan, will draw a little bit of beauty,

magic, and joy from the record.

Rating - 7/10