The Cooper Temple Clause - "Kick Up the Fire, and Let the Flames Break Loose"
Album Review
By: elise

It seems that, in the current state of things, hype about a band is often only inflated words spilling from the mouths of those who could benefit in light of a Top 40 success story. The commotion travels fast through magazines and television. It's heard repeatedly: the band's name, quick facts about where they're from, who they're being compared to- it all builds up into a billow of smoke above the listener's head. Pretty soon the public has bought the hype. Albums have been sold, videos made, the band is plastered on tour posters everywhere, and it becomes time for the music to stand up and carry the band the rest of the length. In most cases, the music wasn't as great as the initial buzz claimed it to be and now it sits collecting dust in the Used CD section of the local record store. Next month, another band will have its turn in the whirlwind sell and what worked before will work again.
         The Cooper Temple Clause just may be an amendment to this law of industry. The name sits in the back of your head, pushing its way to the front every so often when the hype machine launches it forward. 'Radiohead meets Aphex Twin, meets The Chemical Brothers.' Such phrases lure you into something new using something familiar. Ordinarily those phrases turn your tongue bitter once you've heard the music they are so generously describing (thus we end up back at the Used CD section). But this time, there's no bitter taste. There may even be the question as to whether or not those phrases put a limit on the music this band makes. You like the notes that wrap themselves inside your head and then echo in your chest. Track by track the music grows from dynamic talents and tastes until you've reached the end, at which point you begin re-enacting the melody of track #3 over and over to yourself.
         Cooper Temple strides past the hype with their music as a base of strong, confident steps to take them the rest of the length. They won't let the smoke cloud of commotion fade as the winds bring in newer, fuller clouds. They might not even be concerned when it comes to those recycling clouds of smoke, as it is apparent they are dealing in the arena of fire. Kick Up The Fire, And Let The Flames Break Loose makes their intentions and abilities clearer through flames from the music rather than with smoke from the hype.
         To compare the band's music to other's who've come before wouldn't accurately pin down that fervor and fury put forth from the innovative sextet of musicians that make up The Cooper Temple Clause. Instead, with the courage that the Kick Up The Fire. will teach you what you've been wanting to know about Cooper, I offer some befitting key words and send you on your way: dynamic, vivid, magical, mayhem.

- elisa
bandchat.org Correspondent

-For more information on The Cooper Temple Clause, visit their webpage at http://www.coopertempleclause.co.uk/home/.