Jody Cooper

Jody Cooper creates light-hearted, thoughtful musings on millennial life on his latest LP, Serenades & Odes to a Cracked World (Part 1). Transplanting himself from the UK and landing in Leipzig, Germany the singer-songwriter has both been classically trained and schooled by the streets as a busker. The result is a tightly constructed self-produced album of warm pop rock melodies.

The first six songs of the album (the first half) leave something to be desired. The songwriting is immaculate but perhaps too clean. In an attempt to be catchy, much of the quirkiness that gives listeners something to latch on to has been weeded out. To find the strength of the record, skip ahead to track 7.

Cooper finds more interesting territory on 'Home'. His phrases become drawn out and wistful. Rolling toms and drawn out chords give the feeling of ocean waves. The sincerity in his piercing falsetto is matched by the persistence of the steadfast bass line. He continues this slightly darker tone on 'The Great Divide' again giving time for notes to sink in and resonate. The verses shine with the 'snowing cotton' feel of a meadow in some medieval fantasy. Cooper insists “I'm no slave!” in choruses that resonate with an oddly fitting '80s arena rock feel.

Another standout track is the penultimate, 'It's Alright'. The track calmly sways with an '80s pop skip, like a smooth Rod Stewart classic. The song feels like the soundtrack to one of those deceptively magical summer nights where you find yourself in a new town, on some secret back lane patio. The place is adorned with quirky curios and lined with Christmas lights that recreate the bright stars of the country night within the light-polluted aura of the big city. You were brought there by an old acquaintance showing you around town but now you're laughing it up with some strangers about a surfing trip gone awry. A set of beautiful eyes is giving you the look from across the yard. Everything's clicking. 'It's Alright' is the feeling of that night. A bewitching sax solo plays it out for the perfect ending.

Serenades and Odes has its gems but it does take some digging to find them. The first half of the 13 track album is made up of mostly forgettable, albeit well-crafted pop rock tunes. A track like 'Leave a Light On' is the type of song that's well-suited to a car commercial for a sporty compact, with twenty-somethings taking a road trip to the beach. However, if you keep on to the latter half, the deeper cuts become just that, deeper. It's too bad when an album stacks its first half with the more 'accessible' songs rather than the best written. In a market where the audience has the attention span of a gerbil, listeners may pass over a record like this upon a quick listen and miss the best stuff.