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***John Brooks (ex-Hungry Ghosts) has chosen to release his first solo album, As Happy as Sad is Blue, under his birth name, J.P. Shilo. When The Hungry Ghosts imploded in 2000 soon after the release of their acclaimed Smells Like Records debut Alone, Alone, Brooks entered a black hole. What happened is still unclear but he was found, some years later, at the Tara Institute, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation center in Melbourne, Australia's Bayside region. During the three years Brooks spent at the center reaffirming his interest in Tibetan Buddhism, he recorded his musical ideas, often working only by candlelight, onto a four-track cassette recorder kindly donated by a fellow resident and music lover. It was also at the Tara Institute that he met his future wife, Nika, who graces the cover of this album. In 2004 their son Casper was born and, to mark this new chapter, Brooks returned to his original surname, "Shilo." When these songs came to the attention of Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley, he immediately offered to release them on his Smells Like Records label. And so here we are. 30-second MP3 excerpts: Earth-sinking-into-water
Water-sinking-into-fire
As Happy as Sad is Blue
Begone Dull Care
La Sirena
Wait
Insects-eating-into-insects
( ) up my Sleeve
Paris Air
The Sea has Done a Number on Me
Fireflies
Grave
I Can't Say Fish Don't Cry
The Drowning Horse
High Inner Tree
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