Copeland - You Are My Sunshine

[Ian]

I need a few more listens to really separate the songs, but I can say that Copeland are still yet to disappoint.  It's actually pretty amazing, all of Copeland's albums are very distinct, but I really can't decide which one I like best or least.  Each one has something great about it, and this one will be no different.  This is easily their fullest, most lush album.  It sounds great, but I do find myself missing the more vulnerable vocals of Beneath Medicine Tree.  Aaron's vocals are gorgeous on this album, but at times they sound too polished.  Overall though, I'm very satisfied with this album, and I think it has a chance to crack the top 20 of my year end list.

[Aaron]

I've listened to everything by this band and I fail to see what is so great or amazing about them.  I'm usually high on bands like this but I don't find them great.  I want to really like them but I can't.

[Ian]

Honestly, I'm not really sure what exactly makes me like this band so much.  I think the songwriting just clicks for some people, and not as much for others.  Bands like this, or for example Death Cab, that rely on vocals and writing as their main draw, tend to cause pretty black and white split opinions between listeners, at least in my experience.

I gave this an 8.4, which puts it at 21 on my list.  We'll see if it grows on me.  I have a feeling it will.

[murlough23]

I wanted to hate this band, but their last two albums made me like them in spite of myself, so I have high hopes for this one.

[ajyouthguy]

I've listened to everything by this band and I fail to see what is so great or amazing about them.  I'm usually high on bands like this but I don't find them great.  I want to really like them but I can't.

i can't tell you exactly why i do, but i LOVE Copeland.  perhaps it sound cliche, but i just think it's beautiful music.

[Aaron]

After a few listens, I actually like the entire album.  It's the first Copeland album I like from start to finish.

[murlough23]

After a few listens, I actually like the entire album.  It's the first Copeland album I like from start to finish.

Funny, I was just going to say that I'm feeling a bit disappointed with it. It seems detached and disjointed to me - to much diddlying around with languid keyboards and really slow tempos, and very little for the drummer/bass player to do on several tracks. That's subject to change as I listen more, since I didn't think ESR was all that great at first, either. But this feels like a transitional album for a band still deciding on their identity. I would probably tell most folks that if you're not already a Copeland fan, this ain't a good place to start.

[murlough23]

Listening to this more now, I'm finding some of the more drum-heavy tracks getting stuck in my head - "Should You Leave", "Good Morning Fire Eater", "Not Allowed". But several others feel tedious - I admire this band's use of restraint, but it feels like they're holding back to the point where the record's experimental nature starts to feel rather clinical. Especially on "Not So Tough Found Out". Playing the same chords for 10 minutes while dribbling a bit of electronic distortion and a brief guitar-freakout climax into a song does not equal a compelling experiment. "The Grey Man" also irritates me. They get a good 6/8 or 6/4 or whatever sort of groove that is going and then it really awkwardly transitions into 4/4 for a dull, plodding chorus. There's trying to be different and then there's doing it well - I'm not sure this band always knows one from the other.

My favorite Copeland songs from the previous album were "Love Affair", "Eat, Sleep, Repeat" and "When You Thought You'd Never Stand Out" - all examples of restraint done beautifully. Those songs breathed and built up momentum without any of them being obvious "intense rockers" or anything. I also love some of the more in-your-face stuff like "No One Really Wins" or "Love Is a Fast Song" from the album before that, but that isn't the mode I normally expect Copeland to operate in, so it's not like I'm criticizing Sunshine for not rocking enough. It just feels a bit too insulated, that's all.

NP: "Dream of Two Cities", Supertones

[plvarona]

I'll admit I've run the gamut of emotions with this album.  I bought it the week it came out, and honestly, I thought the album dragged a bit.  I then put the album away for a week, while catching up on a few other albums.  Afterwards, I gave the album another spin, and interestingly enough, I liked it a lot more than I did the first few times I heard it.  I guess I just needed some time for the album to sink in.  I do still think the album is a little too detached for my taste, as murlough mentioned earlier, and furthermore there aren't really any tracks I truly love.  However, I have developed a liking to every song except "Not So Tough Found Out."  Not to mention, this album has some of Copeland's best harmonies, and the instrumentation seems better thought-out than on previous efforts.  So even though I would put this album clearly behind Eat.  Sleep.  Repeat., there's still a lot to like here.  Sounds like a solid "B" to me.

[ajyouthguy]

i honestly keep forgetting about this album.  i'll go to listen to something while i'm working at the church, and i'll forget what i'm gonna listen to and wind up on something else, meaning to come back to this album.  i can't even remember if i've listened to it all the way through yet, and not b/c i don't want to, i honestly just keep forgetting to come back to it.

[murlough23]

My favorite tracks on this album: "Should You Return", "Good Morning Fire Eater", "Not Allowed". All are melodically solid, well-layered, and have the right moment where they "kick in". Well maybe "Not Allowed" is a slight exception to the pattern, since that one feels like a restrained dance track of sorts, but there's something idiosyncratic about it that I enjoy.

Worthwhile runner-ups are "To Be Happy Now", "On the Safest Ledge" and "What Do I Know?" All are good examples of how Copeland brings in a little rock energy when they want to, but refuses to be defined as a band by their perceived level of aggression.

The rest of the album feels too restrained to fully sink in yet. "Chin Up" and "The Suitcase Song" still feel like the new and not-improved "I'm Safer on an Airplane". "Strange and Unprepared" feels like something Thom Yorke might mumble while fiddling around on the piano and then decide to relegate to a B-Side. "The Grey Man" is absolutely frustrating - starts off solid, completely derails me every time it returns to its lackluster chorus. I feel like "The Grey Man" and "On the Safest Ledge" must've switched choruses or something. (Switch them back and fiddle around with the tempos a bit, and neither song would have awkward time signature changes. I normally enjoy time signature changes in the middle of song, but in both of these, it feels a bit forced just for the sake of being unpredictable.)

As for "Not So Tough Found Out"... it's probably designed to be a polarizing song. It actually has several "sweet spots" that I love - when the female vocals come in, then the French horns, then when the guitars and drums finally break in and everything gets noisy for a few bars. But it unfolds too slowly and repetitively, with the SAME DAMN CHORDS for ten and a half minutes. Kinda like Sigur Ros on a bad day.

It is really hard to describe what I like about Copeland.