Melbourne multi-instrumentalist Paul Louis Villani released “Makes Me Happy” on February 9th. He wrote, recorded, and produced the entire thing himself in his home studio, using AI to alter his vocal stems into something he felt matched the song better. Villani doesn’t play live anymore and works in complete isolation, which he describes as “absolute bliss.” The song deals with friendship and self-discovery, built around the line “You know you’re winning when your best friend is selling what it is you think your life is depending on,” which is a sharp observation about the kind of friend worth having. The production is intentionally raw and intimate, aiming to make you feel like you’re sitting in the room while it’s being played. No polish, no distance.
Musically, Paul Louis Villani merges acoustic funk and blues influences on this song to create a tasty jam that feels warm and electric at the same time. It’s like rocking out whilst sitting around the campfire with people in an intimate circle, cheering on. The main riff, while it is repetitive, works in favor of the song to ground the story like all those old blues songs where the guitar would be going on and on around the same melody, and only the lyrics sung over it would change.
Paul Louis Villani’s approach is refreshing. He outright says he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about the song or how he made it, and that energy comes through in the recording. His album Fully Unchained Creativity, Kinetically Overriding Fossilised Frameworks (F.U.C.K.O.F.F.) came out back in November, and “Makes Me Happy” is an indication of where he’s at now, he’s continuing to push things on his own terms.
