Text: Omasum | Translation: dilettante
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. I dropped by Y’s record store, he was struggling with the weight of the iron gate and obviously drowsy with sleepiness. After following him into the tiny store Y started mumbling in the dark, probably contemplating the soundtrack for the day. Not long after a dreamy voice was gently released into the air accompanied by somewhat electronic sound. The gloomy sound sets the tone for the day and it would remain so. Could it be that I am the one whose existence is lingering in the melody and in the singer’s dream?
Later I realised the record Y played that day was ‘Sleep Well’ by Electric President.
Electric President comes from Florida Jacksonville, composed of Ben Cooper a.k.a. Radical Face and his buddy Alex Kane.
They are signed to independent Berlin label Morr Music (Other talents under the label include Lali Puna from Germany, Seabea from Iceland and B. Fleischmann from Austria.) Ben Cooper, the lead singer, is also a painter and website designer. He released the ‘Ghost’ album as Radical Face, with Alex and his brother Emeral as collaborators. (Ben and Emeral also formed another band with a more experimental flair called Iron Orchestra, but no album is released as yet). In comparison to the more folk ‘Ghost’ album, Ben’s voice in ‘Sleep Well’ album floats in the air, and filled with softness accompanying electro sound in the background. Compared to their debut album as Electric President in 2005, Ben and Alex show that they are mastering the synthesizers in ‘Sleep Well’. Their arrangement and style is now with more depth and variations, completing with surreal lyrics and ghostly rhythm.
According to Ben Cooper’s website, the inspiration from ‘Sleep Well’ came from a dream journal that he used to keep years ago. It could be a coincidence that the journal turned up out of the blue one morning and provided the much needed essence for the album. Like the other albums, ‘Sleep Well’ was recorded in the storage room at Ben’s back garden and Alex’s bedroom.
Finishing the recording in February, Ben thought it was a shame that it is being released in the hot summer. According to the note on his personal website, ‘Sleep Well’ belongs to winter and night time. The other day I overslept and did not leave my apartment until 11am. Sitting on the upper deck on the bus, I listened to the album staring at an empty highway. I did not want to be late, so I made my way back instead.
With a straw mat and sun lotion, I am alone next to the sea. I laid on the sand raising my eyes to the blue sky and infinite patterns of the clouds.
The b-sides material lasts over an hour and according to Ben Cooper, much longer than the album. 13 months spent on production is not in vain. Opening with the gentle ‘Monsters’, the lullaby quality of Ben Cooper’s voice is urging one to walk into a surreal place. ‘Bright Mouths’, ‘Robophobia’ and ‘When It’s Black’ are relatively upbeat and more electro. ‘Ether’ and ‘All the Bones’ are made with layers upon layers of melody rises above each other.
The instruments sound slightly awkward at times, painting an other-worldly and dream-like composition. Certain melody makes an impression of being repeated from another track, echoing one dream into another. With Ben Cooper’s voice as the vehicle, one travels through never ending dreams made in melody.
It did not leave me time to contemplate. I seem to wake up with the sound of ‘We Will Walk Through Walls’, with Ben Cooper mumbling the words ‘We will walk through walls / My dear / I promise you’. The key of the melody kept rising until there was nothing. May be the voice penetrated the wall into the other side, another space. Deep in sleep in one’s dream, he will mumble again with an organ in his hands, facing the sea, drifting through space in this world coming to an end.
FURTHER LISTENING:
The Postal Service《Give Up》(2003)
Radical Face《Ghost》(2007)
