Radical Face

Key Track: 'Reminders.'

The latest album from Radical Face, otherwise known as Ben Cooper from Jacksonville, Florida, is the second in his Family Tree trilogy. He’s probably best known here for his song, ‘Welcome Home’, soundtracking a high-profile camera advertising campaign last year. But all of that should change with the release of The Branches.
From the stunning piano-led pop of ‘Holy Branches’ to the infectious nostalgia of ‘Summer Skeletons’, the funereal ‘We All Go The Same’ to the moving confessional, ‘The Mute’, this is a supremely confident piece of work. It very loosely skirts the folk and Americana genres, but there’s a limpet-like pop sensibility at its crooked heart, from the insatiable percussion of ‘Chains’ to anti-war ballad ‘Letters Home’, which may remind you of Conor Oberst jamming with Death Cab For Cutie.
The melodies are instantly memorable, but Cooper also knows his way around a killer couplet, as on the superb ‘Reminders’: “I wish I had more nice things to say, but I was raised not to lie.” One of the albums of the year.