'Happy Songs...' is a pretty chilled out collection of instrumentals that on first listen is background music, but (with persistence) it will be at the forefront of your attention. For the most part the album is pretty chilled out and relaxed but the sea changes and tidlewaves with seering powerful emotions (most notably on 'Ratts Of The Capital').

There is a thin line between beauty and boredom which Mogwai skillfully balance on; as I said before, once you get to know the album it's mostly beautiful but at times Mogwai do occasionally dip their feet into the cold waters of boredom now and then. But I suppose some might say that boredom in music is vital, without boredom there can be no unexpected surprises.

The use of violins, violas, cellos and pianos give the album an orchestral feel that they encorporate into their songs, and goes well with the electro-gaggle noise they chuck into their instrumentals. The best moments of 'Happy Songs...' is when it feels like the album is cleansing the soul and mind of all stress. It's unbeatable.

My personal favourites are the opener 'Hunted By A Freak', 'Ratts Of The Captal' and 'I Know You Are But What Am I?'. The CD also comes with some Cubase software so you can re-mix 'Hunted By A Freak' but I haven't quite worked out how to do it. But I'm sure it's good fun when you know how!

I urge you to buy this album, it's dominated my life for quite a while now, I think this is love...