Charles Spearin of Broken Social Scene preps solo album

Arts & Crafts have announced details of a solo album from Broken Social Scene / Do Make Say Think main man Charles Spearin. The album is to be called The Happiness Project which will be released in the UK on March 23rd 2009.

In the album’s liner notes, Spearin took time to write a bit of an explanation on the idea behind the project. “These are my neighbours. My wife and I have two little kids and live in a multi-cultural neighbourhood in downtown Toronto.” Spearin explains,  “In the hot summer months all the kids in the neighbourhood play outside together and everyone is out on their porch enjoying each other’s company, telling stories and sharing thoughts. A year or so ago I began inviting some of them over to the house for a casual interview vaguely centered around the subject of happiness. In some cases we never broached the subject directly but none-the-less my friends began to call it my ‘Happiness Project’.”

If you head over to the official website here, you can download, for free, the track ‘Anna’, to give you an idea of what it’s all about…

Performing on “The Happiness Project”:
Charles Spearin – Guitar, Bass, Cornet, Piano…
Leon Kingstone – Tenor and Baritone Saxophones
Julie Penner – Violin
Michael Barth – Flugelhorn and trumpet
Julia Seger Scott – Harp
Ohad Benchetrit – Classical Guitar, Slide Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Flute…
Dave Clarke – Drums
Justin Small – Drums (Anna)
Christopher Ford – Piano (Ondine, Mr. Gowrie)
Ric Petit – Cello
Kevin Drew – Keyboards (Mrs. Morris reprise)
Evan Cranley – Trombone

Photo by Ama Chana