Review: Cooper Point Rd makes big splash with self-titled EP

Steeped in swampiness, Cooper Point Rd‘s EP marks an impressive turn for a debut. As though performed in some hidden tavern down a back alley, Cooper Point Rd rattles with a ghostly, bone-chilling wind. The group — comprised of Mike Todd (vocals, guitar), Garth Reeves (vocals, mandolin), Brian Trinen (button accordion, guitar), Gregor Visconty (bass), and Perry Morgan (drums) — combs sloshy bar-top anthems while also delivering one of the finest songs of 2024.

Where “Nothing All Day Long” and “Raise One for Our Enemies” lean into the midnight hour, as the beer flows, the glasses clink, and the crowd roars, the band pulls the audience into a harrowing tale. “Annie,” about a “violent man,” arrives as a delicately grim murder song that’ll send shivers down your spine.

Then there’s the matter of “Rye Whiskey,” a tumbling tune about a man who’s a victim of circumstance, whiskey, and heartache. “I’m a rambler, I’m a gambler, a long way from home,” sings Todd, whose throaty voice pierces through the pitch blackness of lonesomeness. Throughout the project, he weaves in and out of melodies with pelican-like precision. He lets the air leave his lungs and his voice soar. There’s no telling where he might go. When he finally lands, the listener is shaken to the core.

Cooper Point Rd’s debut doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does supply plenty of sterling storytelling that leaves an imprint on the soul.

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