“Welcome Home”
from the album Ghost
2007
iTunes
Ben Cooper wields an array of second hand and salvaged stringed instruments, which brings Radical Face to fruition. Though primarily a solo project, Alex Kane (bass), who also plucks the four-string with label mates Electric Presidents, and brother Emeral Cooper (piano) both lend a collaborative hand.
Somber arrangements with deliberately austere lyrics aim to expose the emotional impressions left by former tenants in forgotten homes. Yes, Ghost, Radical Face’s debut LP, which dropped this spring via Morr Music, is indeed a concept album. “I always considered [concept albums] to be artsy masturbation projects,” admits Cooper, but that didn’t stop the principal from indulging, spending over two years writing and recording the creative opus. Resourceful samples and delicate, yet complex compositions dripping with nostalgia tie Radical Face closely in temperament to the Album Leaf circa In a Safe Place. The slow building hooks and innocent choruses found on “Welcome Home” and “Wrapped in Piano Strings” just might convince you that hushed sonics are poised for a musical takeover.
All Radical Face’s recording efforts are turned out in a tool shed, which lacks both heat and A/C, situated behind Cooper’s Jacksonville Beach, FL abode. The combination of sweltering Florida heat and its proximity to a major highway force the band to record only between the hours of midnight and 5 A.M.