Sweet, sweet Mike Cooper has just leaned in through my bedroom window to whisper his plans to continue efforts to make me feel as if I have gone to the beach without getting wet. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Your albums White Shadows in the South Seas and Rayon Hula have done everything but embed the soft Pacific sand into the numerous folds in my aging skin. I am sure that your recently announced Fratello Mare album, as it is of a piece with your “continuing ode to the Pacific, its people, and the traditions that have flowed from that part of the world,” is planned to do just as much if not more, correct? Smashing!
Yes, Mike, please lean a bit closer through the wooden frame that separates the inside of my home from the out; you are always welcome here, friend. Of course, I would love to inform the people that Fratello Mare is named for the 1975 Folco Quilici film and that it will be out July 31 on Lawrence English’s Room40 imprint. Am I safe in assuming that it will combine the lovely tones of your lap steel playing with an array of additional instrumentation, percussion, and field recordings made during your travels to South East Asia and the Caribbean? I am? Wonderful!
Yes, yes, please do lean a little closer, but watch out for the exposed nail on the corner there. And what is this strange device you’ve pulled from the depths of your pocket? A smart phone? Why yes, I would love to watch a video you’ve made for “Fratello Mare” on it with you. And yes, Mr. Cooper, in light of your illustrious and prolific 50-year long career as a professional musician, I would be thrilled to copy and paste the embed code so that our readers might as well gaze upon the video below. Do you find that amenable? Splendid!
Pre-order the album here.
Fratello Mare tracklist:
01. On Passing Bamboo
02. A House in Bali
03. Summer Without Waves
04. Street Beneath the Beach
05. Of Palm and Reef
06. Fratello Mare
07. Notes from My Pacific Log
08. Secret Mexican Beach
09. A Cinnamon Peeler
10. New Gamelan
11. Complicated Sky
• Mike Cooper: http://www.cooparia.com
• Room40: http://room40.org