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Rating: Behind the name Radical Face hides a twenty-four-year-old with a classic name - Ben Cooper - but with a flair far from common. Momentarily setting aside the Electric President project born in collaboration with his friend Alex Kane (the promisingly titled new album "Sleep Well" has already been announced) - Ben decides to do it all on his own. The label is the same - Morr Music - but the luminaries who inspire him have changed.
The impression is that compared to the previous work, "Ghost" is much closer to him, it adheres to him more. He is no longer the exploratory youngster playing more or less skillfully with the "fantastic" world of electronics: yes, it’s true, not much time has passed, but Ben seems more confident in himself and his possibilities.
I'm not saying the new work is qualitatively superior to the previous one, but just that it is more suitable for him. He exposes himself and opts for sounds from the folk pop repertoire, also using traditional instruments: accordions, wood percussion (or hand claps? In any case, I prefer to imagine they are women's heels tapping to the relentless rhythm), flutes, mandolins; there are recurring marches, tight rhythmic bases alternated with airy and cathartic choral openings. The choruses are found in many tracks and it almost seems that the repeated words are necessary to exorcise the unsettling presences that crowd Ben’s imagination. A sort of profane requiem. For those unfamiliar with Electric President but who love the drawling voices in the Grandaddy/Pavement style, MUST have at least one Ben Cooper album.
Just listen to "Welcome Home, Son" to understand: in this track, all the ingredients of the album composed of young pop sprouts that make you dream of places as seductive as they are unreal.
Ben is an inspired visionary: "Ghost" is the most fitting title.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Glory (06:11)
I was born when they took my name
When the world turned wicked, when I joined their game
But I turned upon them
Like you always knew I'd do
I sat and dreamed at the foot of your bed
Split my skull and reached inside my head
Pulled out the pictures and wished that I'd forget
But you stitched me up then
Wiped the blood from off my chin
Now I sit on rooftop's edge
Muddy street beneath my swollen head
Trying to forget you
But we've never met
And the sky is ripped from the flying clouds
The chimneys' mouths spewing smoke around
And I can't stop coughing
My lungs just won't calm down
But still I keep grinning
As the blood from my face stains the ground
A bird, caught in the wires
Pleading for help I can't provide, I'm not that big
I hope for the best but nothing changes, I'm sorry
But I was blessed with bad eyes
There's a lot that I missed but I don't mind, I'm not that old
I'll find out what broke me soon enough
07 Along the Road (04:16)
There, along the road, was a tiny home
The yard held dead machines behind its fences
Like they were it's kids
Broken down, but still worth a lot to someone
It made me stop and grin
Light from a dying moon
It blurs our eyes
And we wear a cape of fireflies
And after the world's in bed
All the ghosts come sing along
But we'll forget them
When the morning comes
And I slept on the ocean last night
I could see you all, and you all were dancing sideways
Your feet stuck to the skies
And I could see the airplanes dance behind your eyes
And I was glad I found the time
10 Sleepwalking (04:41)
I fell asleep in a chair by the fireplace
And I woke up in the kitchen sink
With an umbrella full of holes atop my head and
I fell asleep on the table with your picture in hand
And I woke up in the cupboard
With some scrapes on my arms and a mouthful of hell
Chains are rattling in the attic again
And the (?) nests in the windowsill
And dust had settled over everything
And the ceiling fan still cuts a lazy circle
Got a picture on the mantlepiece
Of the way that I thought that we'd end up
But it shares no resemblance to that
Yeah, that shares no resemblance to that
I tore the dreams from my head and tossed them in the flames
And the smoke smelled like my past
And it stung my eyes, but I was too stubborn to blink and
I slept inside the piano 'til the rain was gone
And I woke up when I saw the sun
And wiped the sleep from my eyes, yeah I knew my time had come
We're all still a part of everything that we were
And we'll all float along with everything
And in turn, we'll all fall apart with everything
We'll learn just what things are like outside our heads
And I hear them singing
I hear my name
I feel you tug my skin
And I was happy to fade
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