Citizen Cope is perhaps best know for his collaboration with Carlos Santana on the song "Sideways" and the song "Son's Gonna Rise," which was featured in a Pontiac commercial. It is on this small audience that he is trying to expand.
After being bounced around by several record labels, Clarence Greenwood (aka Citizen Cope) was picked up by RCA Records in 2004. The new partnership produced the acclaimed album The Clarence Greenwood Recordings. Attempts to pigeonhole the album were wildly unsuccessful, as genres such as soul, hip-hop, blues, folk and rock were all tossed around liberally.
With the release of his new album Every Waking Moment, a major question regarding the release was, "Would Cope focus in on one of the expansive genres?" The album answered these questioners with a resounding "No." In fact, Cope opened even more doors in his incredibly eclectic new album. Songs such as "Awe" could be seen as jazz, funk and rock, and "Back Together" could possibly be folk, R&B and soul.
Such a polarity from song to song often leads to a lack of continuity in the disc, which can in turn detract from the album as a whole. However, Cope avoids this very well on Every Waking Moment — perhaps inadvertently. His signature vocals (a strange combination of a smoky clearness) meld the tracks together in a coherent fashion, serving as a main tie throughout the album and giving each song a comforting continuity with the next.
It is his voice and lyrics that are Cope's main focus musically. The majority of his songs are simple rhythms set as pedestals for his lyrics. Perhaps the largest change in the album lies within his words.
On his last album, the songs were observational. He wrote what resembled character sketches or verbal paintings of events he saw. Such was the case with "Pablo Picasso," which was about a man and his thoughts as he stood in front of a Picasso mural. This can be contrasted with the new album, in which Cope turns inward for his inspiration. In the song "Back Together," Cope sings, "Been stuck in the middle of a vendetta between me and myself, I sure could use a witness. But I just ain't found one yet." Writing about oneself can often become cliché, but Cope avoids this with a command of his words. Even the blandest topics can be successful if written beautifully — and Cope certainly continues to do this on Every Waking Moment.
Complexity in the album comes within the abstract lyrics and experimental song structures. This seems to be working as a catch-22 for Cope. The unique styling choices make Every Waking Moment far less accessible than his previous albums, particularly for new listeners. Those who have followed Cope through his career will not be surprised to see the musical risks he takes verbally and structurally, and for listeners who liked The Clarence Greenwood Recordings, the musical maturation in Every Waking Moment is sure to be a breath of fresh air amid so much musical stagnancy on the radio.
On the other hand, those who have never heard Citizen Cope will be left scratching their heads when they hear, "I got a brother named Lee who looked just like me, both sides of the Mississippi," or the somewhat drunken "la-la-las" that start during "Somehow" and curiously continue into the next track, "John Lennon." This lack of accessibility through strange structure and lyrics may be the lone downfall to the universality of the album.
For music lovers looking to check out a few tracks off of Every Waking Moment, songs such as "Somehow," "Friendly Fire" and "Brother Lee" would give a good glimpse of the album as a whole.
Citizen Cope can be found touring right now and will be stopping in Milwaukee on Oct. 29. This should be a great concert, considering Cope claims that his songs don't take shape until they are played live.
Grade: 4 out of 5
