Album Review: Phil Cooper - These Revelation Games

Many have spent these odd days of the pandemic using the extra time at home to make new music (myself included). Without live shows to play, and traveling to partake in, there hasn't been much else to do besides pour ourselves into making something positive of the situation. The fear is that the anxiety of the times will overwhelm everything, and the music will be a time capsule we will never want to think about once we have passed by the worst of this, but it does mean we are going to be hearing a lot of music coming up, and a lot of music made in new and interesting ways.

Singer-songwriter Phil Cooper is one of those who have taken advantage of the downtime by making this new solo album, which comes unexpectedly in a time that was supposed to be spent touring with his other band. But we adapt to reality, and we get new music instead of live recitations of already released songs.

On this record, Phil is embracing a sound that is old-school indie rock. There are moments in the way the guitars blend on "Without A Sound" that sound like something The Smiths could have done. Thankfully, there's none of Morrissey's asshole bitching, but rather a less morose take on a familiar old sound. There's also a DIY aesthetic to the record that fits the sound, as something more polished might undercut the intention. Sometimes the most important decision with a production is knowing when not to clean things up any further.

Through the guitar tones, there is an undercurrent of our head-scratching uncertainty. It's a sad sounding record, even if the songs themselves aren't trying to be that way. Note the difference; sad is not the same thing as miserable. When I talked about Pain Of Salvation's record not too long ago, I said it sounded miserable, which is an assessment I stand by. There can be flashes of beauty in sadness, but not in misery.

The record spend most of its time as a blend of indie rock and power pop, giving us guitar textures and hooky melodies. That blend is very appealing, and the best songs on the record are quite good indeed. I'm not keen on "I Am A Radio", which comes across as a bit of a dirge, but it's an exception to the norm of the album. By and large, we're getting a pleasant record that isn't trying to do anything more than entertain us for a stretch. By those standards, it succeeds. Phil has produced a nice album that gives us something to nod along to.

This record might not be how he anticipated spending the year, but sometimes things work out how they're supposed to. These songs, and this album, are a nice addition for him.