Carved from an ecstatic multi-day session in Rio de Janeiro, On Fillmore’s newest album Happiness of Living moves effortlessly between deep cosmic pockets, celestial vocals and occasional pop tunes to create a glowing mood unlike anything previously released from the long-running musical partnership of percussionist Glenn Kotche (Wilco) and bassist Darin Gray (Tweedy). The Brazilian sessions that would become Happiness of Living unfolded in a spirit of openness with On Fillmore inviting others into their deepest creative space for the first time, including esteemed producer Kassin (Caetano Veloso, Arto Lindsay). Kotche and Gray can remember “the musically life-changing experience” of first seeing Kassin perform in Brazil at the 2005 Perc Pan Festival, prompting them to invite him and others back to Chicago for a collaborative show. That meeting opened the door for their critically-acclaimed 2009 album, Extended Vacation (Dead Oceans), which Pitchfork called “accessible but not pedestrian, complex but not esoteric”, and which now becomes fully formed in the 2017 release of Happiness of Living on Northern Spy Records.