The Tough Crowd: Copeland – A Love Letter

Christina Kelly

Very rarely am I optimistic about a new record. Especially when the new record is from a recently reunited band, and even more so when that band’s last record I consider one of my personal favorites. Last week when Copeland announced their reunion, it‰’s the first time I‰’ve ever seen a reunion announcement and I felt hopeful that it would mean something great. Despite the announcement being made on April 1st, I knew in my bones it wasn‰’t a lame April fools joke. It had to be true, life just isn‰’t that cruel. It took 48 hours after the announcement for me to find the courage to listen to “Ordinary,” the newly released song. I opened their bandcamp on my phone in a sort of numb unceremonious way like I was about to listen to something that didn‰’t matter to me. I never expected to be hit the way I was. Two minuets and I was hooked. They got me, again. The same way they did so many years ago.

Suddenly I was back in the moment I first heard them while sitting at my desk in my parent‰’s house in high school. There isn‰’t a moment in my life involving music that was as memorable as that. This sounds insane. I don‰’t care. I remember the feeling I felt that day so well. It was sunny and a little windy and I listened to “Chin Up” something crazy like 59 times in a row. I remember going for a bike ride down by the river downtown and feeling like nothing else mattered. I listened to nothing else for weeks. Most of the time when I say that I‰’m completely exaggerating like when I went through a Bright Eyes phase and listened to “nothing else‰” meant that I listened to every thing Conor Oberst ever touched but I still listened to other things. This on the other hand, was really the only thing I listened to, on repeat, in a disgustingly obsessive way. At the time music was the thing I loved more than any thing else. My world revolved around it and for a moment in time my world revolved around Copeland. There are days where I miss that time, where every new song was a magical moment. I‰’ve been really jaded lately. Punk killed my optimism and I‰’m sure all of my friends have noticed. With the exception of seeing MewithoutYou (an experience I detailed in great length in this column) I haven‰’t cared about music the way I used to and it‰’s really weird. When they broke up I was beyond upset. I begged my mother to drive my friends and I the 2 hours to Tampa to see their last local show. Since then I had accepted that they were done and I never imagined them getting back together. I vaguely recall seeing an article a year ago about a possible reunion but I didn‰’t entertain the idea. Maybe that‰’s why this took me by surprise since I didn‰’t build it up at all. Or maybe Copeland know what to do at the right point in time.

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At this moment, I‰’ve listened to Copeland‰’s new release 15 or so times in a row. I‰’m finding myself feeling the same way I described above, I‰’m just 6 years older and sitting in a different chair. Tears wont stop streaming down my cheeks, yet I cant remember a time I was more excited about a song than this. This song is perfect. It‰’s everything I would have wished for after the break up. I wouldn‰’t change a thing and I know the rest of the record wont let me down.