Just over a year after the brilliant Peppermint
was released, Japanese dream popper Coppé is
back with not one, but two albums: the intimate Papa
My Buddha, dedicated to her late father, and the
more energetic Mercury, recorded with dance
outfit The Program. Despite still being pretty unknown
to most, Coppé has already got an impressive
number of high profile collaborations under her belt.
Plaid, DJ Vadim, Kris
Weston, from The Orb or Mark B have all worked with
her on diverse projects, and Andy Turner and Ed Handley
are currently remixing a couple of tracks taken from
Papa…, while she is busy putting the finishing
touches on an album with Weston.
Recorded while her father was in hospital in Tokyo,
Papa My Buddha reflects the highly emotional
situation by constantly drifting between introvert and
more eruptive moments. Built around sounds recorded
at Ohashi Hospital, this album sounds altogether more
consistent than its predecessor. Papa… kicks
off on an unexpected acoustic note with the delightful
Pomegranate Tears, a mellow bossa-style guitar
accompanying Coppé's delicious bitter-sweet muttering
and slightly off-centre lyrics. After, it is back to
normal business. Atmospheres are defined as much through
complex rhythmic structures, textures and multiple vocal
layers as through the words and singing. Coppé
offers an oblique view on everything she touches. While
the beautifully crafted When It Rains/Click3,
Blue or Don’t Speak perfectly demonstrate
the fragility of her music, and its strength at the
same time, as her funambulist voice skilfully balances
the charges of emotion, the more upfront Gerald’s
Blue Dream or Kangaroo Baby reveal the
more outgoing, funky side of her personality. Papa…
is, more than any of her previous releases, a very personal
and intimate album.
Mercury is more contrasted. Produced by Nico,
founder of drum’n’bass label No U Turn, and Dij, one
half of Signal To Noise and React To Rhythm, aka The
Program, this album offers more upbeat, if as intricate,
moments. After a short piano intro, the album starts
off with the progressive break beat of Mercury
and the excellent Monkey On Fire. Here, Coppé
retreats to let The Program take control of the sonic
landscape for a while. She returns to the forefront
on I Love You, I Strangle You, but here again,
Nico & Dij hold the fort in style. As the album
progresses, there are insights on jazz (73),
complex ambient pop (U Chronik Me) or cartoon-esque
drum’n’bass (Kangaroo Baby). The album comes
to a clause with the introvert ambient Watch Radio
and Farewell, where Coppé returns to her classical
roots with a superb piece of romantic piano.
With larger than life creative sensibility and a personality
to match, Coppé offers here two very different, although
complementary, sides of her music. Both Papa My
Buddha and Mercury are challenging pieces
of organic electronica and clever pop, and both deserve
to be discovered.
Papa My Buddha 5/5 Mercury 5/5 |
