The million-selling songwriter and cult hero Stephen Jones spent the first half of this decade reconnecting with his DIY roots, exploring new styles and approaches with various other projects, producing some intriguing albums, all self-recorded and self-released. Independence has allowed him to dig deeper creatively, taking more risks without having to worry about commercial expectations. These projects have breathed new life into Babybird, which was reborn once again in 2015 as a completely self-sufficient musical enterprise. 'Happy Stupid Nothing' collects together some of the best Babybird recordings from the last few years, and stands as a magnificent journey of an album in its own right.
Recorded at home, the largely instrumental albums he released as Black Reindeer saw a departure into more spacious, atmospheric mood pieces. He also spent some time providing soundtracks to various films and TV shows, as well as self-releasing a massive amount of work under different aliases via his Bandcamp page. With no label, Jones now had complete creative freedom, and was able to explore ideas deeper. He released some weird dance music as Trucker, as well as more of those cinematic Black Reindeer albums, and some efforts under his own name, including the mesmerising 2014 album 'Ambition Expired'.
Babybird
was revived in 2015, initially to release some old unearthed demos and a
"final" album. But then came more material, occasionally absorbing
aspects of his other projects like Trucker, Black Reindeer, Arthritis Kid, and Deluder,
but combining it with a rediscovered Babybird essence. Albums arrived
in quick succession: there was 'Back To The Womb', 2016's 'Life After
Death' and 'A Bad Joke'. 'The Wrong Words', 'I Miss Myself' parts 1 and
2, and double album 'People Do Stupid Things', were all released in
2017. Then came the news that Stephen Jones had suffered a heart
attack. With his health in mind, fans expected him to at least slow down
with his seemingly non-stop recording sessions. Instead, Jones was
already planning his next project, and soon resumed work on 'The King Of
Nothing', which was released as three albums. While still bringing out
stuff under other pseudonyms, 2018 delivered more LPs: 'Selfies Inside
The Coffin', 'You And Me Is Wrong', and the strange Halloween concept
record 'Pretending To Be Dead'. This year has already produced double
albums 'Happyface/Sadface' and 'Black Ghost'.
'Happy Stupid Nothing' is available digitally on March 1. CD copies are available to pre-order now from Psycho Mafia Recordings. Go to https://psychomafia.bandcamp.com/album/happy-stupid-nothing-2
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