| The
Review |
This is the second CD release for Agent Cooper and it’s
been six years in the making. Anytime you hear a CD introduced
in such a fashion you know there is a lot weighing on the
outcome. Well, good news, Beginner’s Mind is solid. It’s melodic,
it’s textured, it’s lyrically thoughtful, and on top of it
all, it rocks. ***
Georgia based Agent Cooper, now in its second incarnation
consists of Doug Busbee (guitars, lead vocals), Eric Frampton
(keyboards, vocals), Sean Delson (bass) and Frank Fontsere
(drums). The previous Agent Cooper collective managed to produce
one CD back in 1999 before a myriad of life-changes took their
tool on the line-up. The present line-up emerged out of the
ashes, stronger for their effort. ***
So what we have here is a CD running just a tick over
46-minutes with ten tracks, most in the three or four minute
range with the longest being six and half minutes. That being
said, it’s quite amazing how much happens within these short
songs. Agent Cooper are very adept at turning things on a
dime within these confines. You don’t even really notice how
short the songs are because there is so much going on. And
it’s not that there is an over-the-top kind of complexity,
no, it’s more that these songs seem to tumble, one segment
into the next. Lots of nice, smooth shifts in time and tempo,
but the one thing that holds this collection of songs together
are the driving melodies. They are everywhere, in the slow
songs, the mid-tempo ones and even in the up-tempo tracks.
This is an amazingly balanced CD. ***
If you had to try to make a comparison try this; mix
one part Porcupine Tree with one part Crack the Sky and mix
it all together and blend with a modern rock sensibility.
The Porcupine Tree feel is certainly felt in the opening East
Indian timbres of “East Indian Sun” while the Crack the Sky
tone is heard in the arty nature of “The Heat.” But don’t
let those comparisons influence you too much. I only mention
them to help you get your bearings. Agent Cooper have a sound
that is very much their own. The sound of the instruments,
the way they’re played and the way the songs are composed
and arranged is very original, challenging and yet memorable.
Lots of nice crunchy guitar balanced with keyboards and rhythm
section. ***
If you enjoy the music of the bands mentioned and are
looking for a bit of surprise in your listening fare, I highly
recommend you pick up a copy of Agent Cooper’s Beginner’s
Mind. They say “good things come in small packages” and in
many respects the same could be said here. It may only be
forty-six minutes but wow, it’s a great forty-six minutes.
There is much to enjoy and appreciate here. ***
Jerry Lucky-April/23/ 2006
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