Toverberg to release new studio album entitled Happy Life

On November 19th the second studio album of Toverberg entitled Happy Life will be released on his own label Sounds Of Confusion. Toverberg recorded the album himself and also took care of the mix.

Oh what a Happy life / Oh what a time to be Alive / Lot's of time to write a song - Is this the beginning of the end of my life / And this world / A place I once / Thought I knew - These are the opening lines of Happy Life, the second solo album by Lars Kroon, now operating under the name Toverberg. We hear a cassette tape that is placed in an old radio and slowly starting up. The voice sounds tinny and the tape slows down. Later in the song, there is a sort of sung Michael Hurley-like trumpet solo. Is this a lo-fi album on tape? When the second part of the title track begins, we are suddenly in the middle of an easy listening vibe complete with country twang, steel guitars and bongos.

It's typical of the whole album. Just when you think you can put your finger on it, the next song flies completely off the tracks. From traditional Americana/folk/country to Lo Fi indie rock with ripping guitar solos and emotional ballads with only an acoustic guitar and xylophone. "I think it's important that there is development in my work and I have a penchant for contrasts. My previous album could be listened to as one long space/drone session, and now I wanted to make something multicoloured. I love albums just as much as I love novels. My favourite books or albums grab you by the throat and speak straight to your heart, without being able to explain exactly why. In really good novels, for example, I can effortlessly follow the main character's most idiotic leaps of the imagination. With Happy Life, I wanted to make something that would work like that" - says Lars Kroon.

Lars Kroon gained fame as the bass player of Go Back To The Zoo and later as the singer of St. Tropez. In 2020 he released music as Lars and the Magic Mountain; his solo project, but with a 15-piece band with strings, horns and a gospel choir. After the umpteenth cancellation/rescheduling of shows, with the ultimate low point being the album release show in Paradiso, which was cancelled at the very last moment (just after sound check), the 35 year old musician decided that from now on, things had to be different: 'I really wanted to make a song record this time, with the idea: The songs should also only work on a guitar. I wanted to keep everything small and intimate, unlike on the first record, and forced myself to look for some kind of core to my writing, by composing in a more traditional way', and so Toverberg was born.

For Happy Life, Toverberg drew inspiration from intimate, DIY-like outsider artists, think Bill Callahan, early Beck, Sparklehorse, Silver Jews, but also, for example, the poetry of Richard Wright and the novels of John Fante. The result is an intimate record on which the artist doesn't shy away from big themes. On As Far As You Will Go for example, "The songs on my previous record were very personal and direct and on this album I experimented more with characters. As Far As You Will Go I wrote from the perspective of a naive optimist with an unshakeable and romantic faith in unconditional love. It's about the endless search for the better version of yourself." Listen to the single below.

On 24 November Toverberg will perform at Paradiso, Amsterdam.