Some artists put out cds at a very quick pace. Elton John was like that. Steven Wison, in one form or another (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield...), gives us new music every year. Others, like Peter Gabriel and David Gilmour, make us wait so long that you begin to doubt that a new CD will ever come out. Happy Rhodes is in that second category. So, after nearly ten years, when I heard that Find Me was finally there... I was very excited indeed.

Not quite as well known as Gabriel and Gilmour :))), Happy Rhodes has been making music for more than two decades. Style wise she is hard to pin down. Some of her music is ambient inspired (think of David Sylvian). She also offers alternative/rock songs with Prog leanings (à la David Bowie for example) and some of her music consists of acoustic songs, often revisiting her own material or doing covers, the side of her I like the most. Another of Happy's qualities is her voice, exceptional being the only way to describe it.

Find Me gives us eleven new tracks of original material, and her three musical song styles I just described are featured on the album. There are no fillers on this CD. She took her time to make it and it shows. This is strong stuff indeed. In my opinion, tracks like "Find Me", "Chosen One" and a few others are among her best ever, this because they show Happy's more tender/emotional side, and that the music is more organic, acoustic (less electronic) then on other tracks. More powerfull songs (like "One And Many" for example) also do the trick and add a nice variety to the listening experience.

My only slight reservation about Find Me is that a good number of songs (about half) feature a lot of electronic keyboards and programing. I feel some of them would have been even better played with acoustic instruments... but this is me and I consider these songs quite good in the manner they are done. Still I would be curious to hear them live, Happy often choosing the unplugged way of presenting her music.

Find Me is an excellent album. Her fans who have been waiting sooo long for a new Happy Rhodes album certainly wont be disappointed. Exception made for her great "unplugged" album The Keep, I would go as far as saying that this is her best ever, and certainly a great place to start in getting to know her music, if you are not familiar with it.