Copeland- You Are My Sunshine

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine/you make me happy when skies are gray. Theses are the words to the popular lullaby in which Copeland named their 4th musical endeavor. The title seems very appropriate considering that they had seem some gray skies in the process of actually making and releasing this record. After having being sent through the major label ringer and being spit back out without even releasing any music for that label, they were finally able to find a home for their next work in indie powerhouse Tooth and Nail records. This gave them complete creative control and they certainly used it. The byproduct being their 4th full-length record, You Are My Sunshine.

From the moment the album begins, you already know you are listening to a Copeland record. It starts out with nothing but beautiful layered harmonies of front man, Aaron Marsh, taking you into the musical stratosphere with his voice. The slightly jazzy number, “Should You Return”, makes for a gorgeous opener and arguably one of the best songs Marsh has ever composed. The piano driven single, “The Grey Man”, follows and is certainly appropriate as a single combining all that people have come to love about Copeland with it’s moving bass line and light piano combined with Aaron’s layered vocals. This album moves on with one of the softest numbers on the record with “Chin Up”. The song was redone from the acoustic version found on their b-sides record, Dressed Up and In Line. The song’s most poignant aspect is not only the soft piano rock you’ve come to expect but the lyrics to the chorus hit home saying that “you would break your neck, just to keep your chin up”.

The album moves seamlessly with some of the best material Copeland has to offer. “Good Morning, Fire Eater” feels like it belongs as a b-side to their last record, Eat, Sleep, Repeat, using programmed drums and atmospheric guitars tones to take over the track. The catchiest track on the record comes up next with the more driving “To Be Happy Now”. It moves just like something off of their sophomore record, In Motion, with its energetic nature.

The second half of the record is kicked off with very simple song, “The Day I Lose My Voice (The Suitcase Song0” where Aaron tells us that he has got his “Life in a suitcase” and he is “ready to run, run, run away”. This songs standout point is the guest vocals from folk singer Rae Cassidy. She lets her jazz-influenced voice take over the track while an assembly of horns in the background accompanies her. This makes for one of the most intriguing songs on the record because of how different it is for Copeland, but it is nonetheless beautiful.

The rest of the second half seems to flow together in a medley of songs that have become what you have come to expect. All combining luscious soundscapes in the chorus like in “On The Safest Ledge” or “What Do I know?” The other direction they take the album is there are two songs that seems to be Aaron Marsh solo songs. The first being the dreary “Strange and Unprepared”, which is just Aaron and his piano telling you how “you never feel good or bad, just strange and unprepared, and now we will always never know”. This loss seems to also hold over into the closer “Not So Tough Found Out”. This was a poem that Aaron decided to turn into a song, which you can tell that easily by looking at the structure of the lyrics. This 10-minute closer is the only vice I found with the record. The song climaxes but the seems to carry on with the opening piano riff for another 3 minutes afterward.

You Are My Sunshine is nothing but gorgeous. The layered vocals of Aaron Marsh combined with stunning piano and atmospheric guitar work all moving seamlessly through a sonic soundscape that only Copeland could create make this record Copeland’s best since their critically-acclaimed debut, Beneath Medicine Tree. With only minor vices coming at the end of the record, it was certainly worth the wait and the pain that they must have gone through trying to get this record out, because they found a home. Just like this record should find a home in your Itunes.