We’re in a dark cellar. The only light we see is rays from the tiny window in the corner that show the floating dust. I can barely catch your image through squinted eyes. I take one step closer, you take one step back. Progress? Maybe. My strides are longer than yours. I take another step forward, you don’t move. I see a shiny, colorful face in the blackness, with a slight smirk and a glistening eye. I turn around, and walk upstairs.
There’s something about listening to “sad” music and feeling whole again. As if we’re stripped naked and collapse, then somehow build ourselves back up from scratch. Electric President songs cut through the layers with which we so cautiously shield our most vulnerable emotions. Ben Cooper’s voice is warm and inviting; you can’t help but let it seep in. It’s a tricky invitation – it brings an unexpected intensity along for the ride. Do we smile upon hearing the sound then duck for cover? Does it scare us with its manipulative ways? I’m not entirely sure, but introspection is a requirement upon listening to Electric President. Cooper and Alex Kane, the other half of Electric President, make us feel uncomfortable in our own skin. And, you know what? I kind of like that. But trust me, it’s not for everyone, and you better be willing to take the plunge on The Violent Blue, because it’s their most chilling effort to date.
At the ordinal level, the album goes from soft and slow to loud and fast, then repeats. The Violent Blue can best be described as a crisp album, showcasing Electric President’s bare bones sound most of the time. In an age where fuzz is at a premium, Cooper and Kane bring a refreshingly tidy album to their repertoire. We still get the bits of psychedelia we’ve come to expect out of their fragile electronica, but each instrument and sound is heard on its own. It makes for a more distinguished overall quality. If these songs don’t affect you to some emotive degree, then I’m not sure what will.
Electric President – “Safe and Sound” [MP3]
arggggggggggh.
lunchtime + earphones + feathers = abby the blubbering idiot
‘and the bruise beneath your eyes has been growing like the tide’ coupled with the amazing bendy-pitchy guitar? it doesn’t get much better.
for those of you who are firing up your reply machine like a lunatic before finishing – i know what i said about lyrics.. but also remember what i had to say about radical face.
so. anyway. just to reiterate what lee has already so eloquently said: if these songs don’t affect you to some emotive degree, then I’m not sure what will.
after careful deliberation i am going to make a bold statement we can revisit next january:
though i have no idea what the next 10 months will have to offer, this record *will* be on the best of 2010 list of most blogs i read regularly.
Amazing Radical Face house show in DC last evening. Ben Cooper graced our ears with some EP as well, The Violent Blue and Safe and Sound. It is written – totally on my top five best shows of all time list. Out of control. Check his website for tour updates and get your ass to a gig. Your life will seem prettier afterward. A
[…] stream on their Listening Party page! And not surprisingly reviews have already started popping up. The Knox Rd blog just posted a really great review from a writer genuinely affected by the album. He wrote, […]