Citizen Cope
From the sublime to the surreal, the masterful "Pablo Picasso" has the crazed appeal of an R. Crumb underground comic. Documenting the misadventures of a deranged dude who falls in love with a dame painted in a wall mural, Cope sings about the delusional man with compassion. "I try to put myself into the reality of the character, no matter how crazy he is, "Cope explains.
"It might sound corny, but for me music should be able to transcend all boundaries,"Cope says, "Society has a way of trying to set limits, but there are no limits in music. I don’t believe in style over substance, for me it’s all about the song. I like bringing together guys from different musical genres, be it go-go, hip-hop or rock, and just follow where the music takes us."
The best example of Cope’s approach to enriching his music can be heard on the minimally lavish first single "Bullet and a Target." According to Cope, "I began writing this song with no real theme in mind, but I did want to express all the craziness we go through in this country. Drug addiction, a bad education system…all of these things are damaging to our psyche. I guess you could say, I was on the left side of my brain when I did that track."
Following in the melancholy balladeer tradition of Bill Withers and Randy Newman, the gorgeous track "Sideways" is perhaps Cope’s most enchanting song. The song has only one hypnotic verse, yet Cope sings it with a different emotional charge each time.
Citizen Cope is a multi-talented sonic auteur that, in addition to providing lead vocals and production, plays a variety of instruments including guitar, keyboard and drum machines. "When I decided to begin work on this project, I was between record companies," Cope explains. "It was in my heart to create music that would just cut away the excess and get to my inner-self."Refusing to be pigeonholed, Citizen Cope has created a unique recording borne of his diverse background.
Booking time at New York City’s famed Electric Lady Studios (aka the house that Hendrix built) and Central East Studios in Washington, D.C. (his former stomping grounds), Cope assembled a crew of stellar musicians to create this eclectic collection of post-millennial pop. From the bombastic drums played by Paul Buggy Edwards on the first single "Bullet and a Target, " to the stirring guitar of Carlos Santana ("Son’s Gonna Rise”), the soulful piano of James Poyser ("Nite Becomes Day”) and the beautiful bass of Me’shell Ndegeocello ("Sideways”), this disc is a mixture of sweet and rough, tender and tough.
A self-taught musician who grew-up grooving to Sly Stone, Willie Nelson, Al Green and whatever else he could sneak from his big sister’s vinyl stash, Cope explains, "I grew up in an environment where there wasn’t much to do, so I had to use my imagination to think of creative stuff. When I finally made a spiritual connection with the guitar, I just started plucking one string at a time until I could play."
Receiving early encouragement from D.C. go-go legend Chuck Brown, Cope later moved to New York and recorded a self-titled disc for Dreamworks Records in 2001. "On my first record, I threw in a lot of overdubbed sounds that just wasn’t needed, " Cope recalls. "This time, anything that didn’t enhance the material or make the songs better, I just stripped away."
With The Clarence Greenwood Recordings, Citizen Cope has created an intimate, vibrant and enduring record – a startlingly mature and compelling document of a promising new voice.
