happy deer

HAPPY DEER is improvised sounds in homage to and in search of.....the forests and the animals within them...the jungles and the tribes that inhabit them... the rhythms and chaos that nature exudes both in reality and in fantasized cartoon imagery...

although the project was formed by Adam Kriney, the cast of musicians involved in HAPPY DEER is a flux, and the concepts and ideals alone drive this musical project.

Listen to some sections from the "Forestrial Communication" CD, "A Rustling", "Hearing", and "Upstream Flows"

Review from www.Crashinin.com, February, 2005, by Lio
HAPPY DEER "Forestrial Communication" CD
Adam Kriney, Anthony Lebron, and Dan Bates make up Happy Dear. They are an improvised musical collective that takes elements of electronics, jazz, and experimentation to capture a live essence of the forest's sounds. Adam is also involved in various other musical improv groups as well as running his own label (Colour Sounds). Fans of Animal Collective will be excited about Happy Deer as you can visualize the bear in the forest enjoying his honey.


Review from The Big Takeover, issue #56, by Steve Holtje
HAPPY DEER "Forestrial Communication" CD
Does it get any spaciaer than this? Forestrial Communication is a single 25-minute improvisation by Adam Kriney (drums, flutes), Anthony Lebron (vocals, electronics, flutes), and Dan Bates (electric bass, percussion, flutes) inspired by and on some level depicting fauna and flora. What's most impressive in a way is that Lebron manages to deploy abstract vocals in a way that seems neither silly nor pretentious. Often he sounds like a human synthesizer. Although this is freely improvised music, Kriney's not allergic to a steady pulse, sometimes for quite a long time, and there's a certain resemblance to Pink Floyd at its most free-form, right down to the flutes. There's also plenty of room for Kriney to unleash his considerable chops, as compared to other contexts in which he holds back for the sake of a different mood; here, although he's perfectly tasteful and subtle, you can tell this is a very talented drummer at work. The versatility and virtuosity of these players makes this a veritable feast of timbres.