The first authoritative compilation of American
dream pop artist Happy Rhodes, whose singular
songwriting and four-octave vocal range
emanated from the pastoral confines of upstate
New York in the 1980s. Her melding of classical
music influences with synthesizer and acoustic
guitar, and her enchanting and idiosyncratic
singing, are favorably compared to heralded
English chanteuse Kate Bush. Fans of such
artistic pop music would be remiss to overlook
Rhodes's similarly remarkable and otherworldly
sonic transmissions, traversing tales of dreamers,
outsiders, lovers and other lovely and terrifying
creatures born of a wellspring of wild creativity
and bold imagination. Affectionately remastered
from the original tapes, Ectotrophia gathers
essential songs from Rhodes's mid-'80s salad
days, many written when she was just a teenager-
wildly ahead of her time and unafraid to bare
her soul to regional audiences, the ectophiles
who'd eventually coin an entire subgenre of pop
music in her honor. Dive deep into ecto, with
the woman who started it all.
