Incentive - Happiness

Incentive

​Happiness
self-released; 2019

4.0 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Incentive is located in Canton, Ohio. He has been recording and releasing under the Incentive name since 2003 and his latest release in entitled Happiness.
 
His experience certainly shows itself with these songs. There is a fluidity and just a sense from the production to the mixing that this isn’t his first rodeo. The music on this album if often alien, subterranean and dark. I would associate it with artists like Gas and Burial. The music is somewhere in that zeitgeist.

The album opens with “45 On the Beach” which could create a sense of vertigo if you aren’t careful. There is a lot of dissonance and white noise which comes from different directions. The industrial style beat really keeps the energy moving feeling like you are moving through some kind of factory located beneath the crust of Mars. As the song progresses the somewhat overwhelming but beautiful white noise smothers the track.

“Trauma, Anxiety, & Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms” contains ominous overtones that mix with some post-apocalyptic imagery that brings to mind Bladerunner. The track twists and turns. What sounds like hellfire mutates as a faint beat propels kinetic energy forward.

We get something a little more straightforward with the crystalized “agonal” which is perfect for an afterparty and late night crawlers. “Time Flows Beyond You” is perhaps the most experimental yet with beats and elements that are in the same company of sound artists like Fennesz and Tim Hecker. Even more experimental is “lowdose” which is the arguable highlight. Similar to Fennesz and Amon Tobin the music has no emotional bottom you can rely on. Its tension is beautiful and perhaps even ugly at moments. The song might make you think, which is one of the things art is supposed to make you do.

The title track “Happiness” at first comes closer to sounding like something Trent Reznor might have in his back pocket That being said the song dismantles itself before going into perhaps the most epic sounding music on the album. It transforms into different patterns of energy which wrap indistinct emotions before coming to a close.

“"I look to the distance, and see the end of the world."” is the closer. He starts things off simple enough with an arpeggiated synth before exploring a vast array of textures and tones. This track had a feeling like it was moving forward and even accelerating.

This music benefits from active listening and good quality headphones. It doesn't have that one vocal hook you might be able to appreciate through a laptop. I never felt like the artist was resting on his laurels. He knew when to make changes and in cases like this an eleven-plus- minute song makes sense because of the story he is trying to tell.

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