Michael Cooper Takes An Electronic Detour On New Album 'Centre Road'

Theater composer and lyricist Michael Cooper releases a new album of electronic music, written, produced, and recorded during the COVID-19 quarantine. Centre Road begins streaming for free, exclusively on SoundCloud, Monday, August 10th, 2020.

Centre Road album link: https://soundcloud.com/centreroad/sets/centre-road

"I moved out of New York City to quarantine with my partner and our dogs in a small house in the woods of upstate New York in early March. These songs were born out of our time in isolation and are a real stylistic departure for me." Gone are the more traditional musical theater structure and storytelling devices: Centre Road is a stark, atmospheric record with songs built around a single word or phrase, awash in drum machines, shivering strings, and electronica bleeps. "I was inspired by producers like William Orbit and Mirwais and their approach to sonic space. The record is meant to be streamed directly to your headphones - turn the volume all the way up! I hope listeners get lost in and surrender to these soundscapes."

The twelve tracks chronicle everything from the great toilet paper crisis at the beginning of the shut-down (the first single, "YES! - by increasing both production and shipments, we're working hard to get back on shelves as quickly as possible!" was inspired by a tweet response from the official Cottonelle Twitter account) to the mass exodus of Manhattan during the height of the pandemic ("Where'd You Go?"). On "Miss U," the perspective shifts again, with crackling vocals skipping over a smudgy bass line ("No I don't miss you/Sometimes I miss you"). The driving beats on "our lungs will collapse before we lose our breath" evoke uprising and protest, while the more tender title track, "Centre Road" is "all about healing and rebirth."

As a special bonus single, "Centre Road" will be featured on the final episode of the new podcast series, "SpiritWalking With Asa Hoffman: Perspectives on the Re-Emergence," hosted by psychic Asa Hoffman, with live vocals by Lizette Cruz.

SpiritWalking With Asa Hoffman Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spiritwalking-with-asa-hoffman/id1513260389

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