Proud Simon

Brooklyn, NY-based Proud Simon continues to be, sometimes, a solo task; a little folk-rock band; a big ensemble with horns, woodwinds, and strings; and, in its latest incarnation, a five-piece rock-band. Mostly Happy Simon is actually the tracks and performing of Brian Keenan, plus whatever musical close friends he can gather, and the type of chamber pop Americana Keenan has specialized in, together with his instinctive organizing skills, provides band a distinctive, ornate, and atmospheric audio that still manages to audio somehow familiar. Happy Simon officially started in Rochester, NY, in 2003 when Keenan and friend Charlie Monteverde started jamming inside a garage area together, eventually documenting and liberating an EP, Departing, and a ten-song recording, Occasionally a Stranger, in 2004. Growing to a five-piece, the music group released another EP, Triumph March Through the Brandenburg Gate, in 2005, and that edition of Happy Simon folded and Keenan shifted to the Brooklyn region, rebuilding the music group from the bottom up and liberating the Bryce Hackford-produced Shoestring Universe in 2006, accompanied by Night of Bad guys in 2008.