Most concept albums aim to deliver a big message, tell an epic story, or make a macro-statement about society.
The concept tying together Zach Cooper’s album The Sentence is far more personal.
From one angle, the album is a musician attempting to chart his own musical growth. Much of the material comes from recordings dating back years- forgotten sketches, live jams, things Cooper put together for various projects.
From another angle, the album is a meditation on, well, meditation. Linking each of the album’s 12 tracks gives you the “sentence” referred to in the album’s title: This is for us to incite stillness in our hearts and minds. Very Zen. Several of the songs could be background music to your workplace’s next seminar on the importance of mindfulness.
A recent review of Cooper’s release complained that the tracks are a bit disjointed, the ideas don’t tend to go anywhere, and that it is “hard to maintain much investment in a record that simply rolls on of its own accord, like a stream, oblivious to the presence of the listener.”
Fair enough.
But for me there is still something very engaging about music that’s not trying desperately to engage. It just exists, and you can choose to pay attention or not.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The continuous slow arpeggio on the guitar.
2. The dissonant, breathy interjections on the horns.
3. The mysterious clicking/winding noise panned left at the 2-minute mark.
Recommended listening activity:
Arranging pebbles to spell out your initials.