Copeland

• HorsePower
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Aug 15, 2009

Involving Us In Their Autumn

Words by Sean Moeller, Illustration by Johnnie Cluney, Sound engineering by Mike Gentry

The underlying feeling that Aaron Marsh leaves us with as his sweet voice breathes and trails away like a pleasing scent, sensed in its invisibility and lost the same way, is that we're going to make it, come hell or high water. It's all about affirmation, the music his band, Copeland, makes, offering mementos for those who'd prefer to look on the bright side of life if they can help it at all. It's all capped with spirited iciness and loaded with shimmering grayness - that which is the main ingredient in the overcast, but here is like a pillow or a security blanket, working out all of the dumpiness that could make one touchy or upset. Marsh has a voice that splits the difference between a falsetto and the birds, making it sound as if it's partially our inner voices and partially the lullabies of the night sky - the pinks and oranges all harmonizing for the full sound expression, exposing a magnitude of protectiveness and safety. Copeland songs are ones that welcome us all in as if we're all involved in a scene from a motion picture involving a wide open, grassy field with two people who love each other rushing in from the sides of the frame - love in their eyes and gaping smiles spread across their faces, their arms and in their rush - moving in slow motion so that it all could be absorbed in the right capacity. They are friends that stand by you - the narrators that Marsh sings the voices of on the band's latest album, "You Are My Sunshine." They are going to be there for you through the thicks and the thins - all of them, from now until forever. They offer advice that - while it might not be novel and could be that which comes from a loving father, given to a daughter - hits the mark when it comes from a peer. Darlins' are told to wake up their eyes and smile a bit more, to stop feeling sorry for themselves and licking their wounds. There's a lot of seizing the day or inferences that it would be a smart thing to do. We've all got to get over this, and we will together, Marsh seems to say in many different ways. Just throw open the door, let the burst catch you and keep moving forward. When you don't, that's when the "or else" finds you. There are no scoldings or admonishments, just encouragement and gentility - one person looking out for another person for all of the best possible reasons, love and appreciation. The song "On The Safest Ledge" gives us the band in its grandeur, doing everything well that it knows, sweeping us off our feet with august temperatures and lushness. Marsh tells the girl in question to just lock the doors and be with him. It's where there's a fire and where it's assured that they'll be safe from all lookers, all wheels, all opinions. He sings, "Don't look ahead/Just run to me/Each step we'll find the next one recklessly…We'll fall into your life here/Could you be happy to fall like a stone/If you'd land right here safe in my arms," and we're in that haven together living another piece of his lyrical advice to "stay what you are and hold what you love."

Copeland Official Site
Tooth & Nail Records

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