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Description
Liz Cooper & The Stampede's 2018 debut, *Window Flowers*, is a gorgeously arranged bouquet of psychedelia-tinged folk-rock that channels classic Paisley Underground aesthetics with Nashville's rustic underbelly. Recorded at the expansive, vintage Welcome to 1979 studio in West Nashville-a former record plant imbued with analog soul-the album floats through a suspended-in-time haze, wrapping Cooper's bluesy, glass-cutting vocals in swirling echoes of pedal steel, glockenspiel, and organ.
Tracks like the near-seven-minute "Dalai Lama" anchor the record in stoner-jam territory that never loses its transcendence, while "Light" erupts with a soaring solo that shifts the song into high gear. Cooper's lyrics, often channeling the enigmatic lyricism of Spiritualized's Jason Pierce, straddle romantic relationship and intoxicant-induced reverie with playful ambiguity. Whether it's the breezy pensive "Kaleidoscope Eyes" or the quiet, contemplative acoustic closer "Walls of White," the album never settles on a single atmosphere, making you want to move through your own space to find fun again.
Guest appearances from Leah Blevins on backing vocals and Thomas Wainwright (The Howling Tongues) on keyboards add lushness and texture, while violinist Emily Kohavi delivers a gorgeous solo on "The Night." The record deals with the weight of mundanity, politely telling boredom to fuck off, yet twists the dullness into something eerie and vibrant. It's a record that makes you want to rediscover fun through music. Cooper and the band are incredibly accomplished at leveling up a song at just the right moment.
*Window Flowers* ends on a quiet note, leaving you with the feeling of the album's final door closing behind you, only to make you want to put the record on once more time. For more on the album's sound, check out the NPR <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/08/02/631796938/first-listen-liz-cooper-the-stampede-window-flowers">First Listen</a> where NPR praises the album's "suspended-in-analog-time depth but sounding so current." Paste Magazine reviews it with a 7.8 rating, noting the band's ability to connect the sound of her hometown with the daring crew who decamped to Austin, Texas, during the '70s <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/liz-cooper-and-the-stampede/liz-cooper-and-the-stampede-window-flowers-review">review here</a>.
Liz Cooper & The Stampede: Window Flowers, released August 10, 2018.
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