𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 - this week: Scars To Armour - Bryan Cooper

Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly - an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙏𝙤 𝘼𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙧 - 𝘽𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝘾𝙤𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧

Charles heals from hurt…

‘Autotelic’ is not a word that comes up much in the average casual conversation. Or at least mine. Yours might very well be regularly punctuated with such a word. But with my personal simplistic conversing, the word is rarely to enter. In fact, I might say it has NEVER even popped by with so much as a “remember me?”… But I think it’s about time we started talking about it. Firstly, its meaning. ‘Autotelic’ is usually referred to from an artistic standpoint. It means to make something for one’s own satisfaction. We have Greece to thank for the word; autos meaning self, and telos meaning goal. But while one could argue that ANYthing we do is autotelic, this is not quite right. If one is doing something for money, then the money is the reason. The DOING should be the reason if it is to be autotelic. Sometimes it might be both, of course; but unfortunately this is rarely the case. This is because most don’t have the privilege of having their dream job. A dream job is when someone spends their working life doing exactly what they love doing, with the bonus of being paid for it. I say “bonus”, but of course money is an absolute necessity in order to survive, and therefore not to be frowned upon.

On YouTube, there has been a very popular genre/theme in recent years; and I have become a sucker for it. I absolutely love it, when done well. Oh, I suppose you’re wishing to know what that is. All right, I’ll tell you. It ain’t cats, that’s for sure. I don’t like cats. I have however been known to be sucked in to talking parrot videos; my parakeet obsession lives on. But that’s not it. It is…… House restoration. I’m sure you’ve all seen the odd one hither or even thither. They start with something that most would describe as a ruin, and then slowly, piece by piece (over the course of years - yep, viewers have to be in it for the long haul) they bring it back to its former glory. Yes, a lot of these YouTubers are doing it purely for the views, and therefore for the money - which is fine. But it ain’t for the love of it all. There are some however, who are basically building themselves a home. It is a labour of love that takes a lot of time, patience, sweat and muscle ache. But of course, if that YouTuber is doing it themselves with a couple of mates (or family members), with a full time job, the process will still be going in a couple of decades because that full time job is taking up all the time. This is why they document it and stick it up on YouTube. The hope is that the views from said “show” will generate enough money to sustain the project without the need for the external full time job. NICE!! But this of course ain’t easy. So many of these shows are deadly dull and deadly slow. Pretty deadly, basically. And so people stop watching, and the project comes to a halt because of funds and time. There is one particular show I have been watching, however, that gets this balance just right, and I am utterly hooked. It’s a middle class couple (Jacob and Amber - excruciatingly referred to together as Jamber) who bought their dream cottage in the Cotswolds, but really it was a dream wreck. That’s what ya get from 16th century abodes. While up until relatively recently they had been doing everything themselves (with a little help from their friends and their dog, Muddy), it was the tiling of the roof that they realised was beyond them, and just too much of a risk to get wrong. So they hired a helping hand for this. Not a big roofing company, but a father/son duo (Mike and Reuben).

It is THIS duo that I wish to bring to your attention. Of course, it is their living. They earn their living from it. But while watching them work, bit by bit, day by day, you quickly realise that it is in fact their loving. They love what they do. The self-satisfaction they gain from it evidently means as much as (if not far more than) the money. They think of it as art. They treat it like art. But of course, as with all art comes great skill and experience. Although one might be born an artist, the art itself cannot flourish without the skill and experience in place. First comes the passion and the need, then comes the years of experience emerging eventually as skill, then finally the money. But the money part is only because we all need to survive. I see this as autotelic plus the bonus of cash. That rare duo. It is exactly how I view my own job in music production and mixing. Of COURSE I love doing it. Of COURSE I get great self-satisfaction from each and every project. But it is my own time, my own experience, and my own skills. And I simply must have a roof over my head. If I won the lottery, I am sure that I would continue with my work in production and mixing for the self-satisfaction of it. Perhaps I would be a little more discerning with whom I choose to work with (some projects can be more labour than love), but the general goal would remain the same. And that goal is two-fold. The first goal I have already mentioned: my own self-satisfaction. The second goal is out of love and respect for the artist and the piece of music itself. I want to make the artist happy, and I want the piece of music to be the best it can be. Yes, I treat art as though it is living and breathing. I hear it thanking me. CC the weirdo. And then there’s these very articles. I literally have no incentive to write them, other than to bring good music to your attention, to give you something interesting to read, to make the artist happy, and of course, to give myself the pleasure of self-satisfaction. That came out wrong, but I think you know what I mean.

So that’s that. An explanation of various things. But how can that possibly have anything to do with this week’s artist pick of the bunch? Well, it all fits rather neatly, actually. Bryan Cooper has just released a brand new EP entitled ‘Autotelic’. Spoiler alert: Bryan Cooper is anything but entitled. I am always wary and suspicious of modesty being on show. “Look how damned modest I am! I’m more modest than you! I’m the most modest person ever!!!”… It doesn’t bode well… Bryan isn’t like that. This might be partly down to his heritage and current whereabouts. Having grown up in the North of England, he immigrated to Japan. With modesty comes respect. Northern England and Japan are known for their respectful citizens. They tend to be polite, well-mannered and modest. It is only in writing this that I now finally understand why he chose Japan as his home. It suits who he is. And Japan is a little more spiritual and open-minded than Northern England. Just a little (a-ho-ho). Before going any further into who Bryan is, I’d like to touch on his music; for that is supposedly why we’re all here. Supposedly. I was thinking that it hadn’t been that long since Bryan’s last EP, but in my haphazard research I realised that it was bloody January!!! Time really has flown this year, I must say. And it is now - checks notes - November. In fact, it was released on a certain date that means something in England. “Remember remember, the 5th of November”. A rhyme that has always made me guffaw at its absurdity. It’s just about the most useless rhyme, should its intention be for you to remember that specific date. I mean, how’s about “Remember remember, the 6th of December”? Or even “Remember remember, the 12th of September”? The only bit that helps is the “ember”. Anyway, I just thought I’d mention it. This date (Nov 5th) signifies a date from 1605 when something DIDN’T happen. Yep, it’s more ridiculous. We might as well say “On the 14th of May, there was NOT an outbreak of cholera”. Anyway, on the 5th of November 1605, a guy called Guy Fawkes NEARLY blew up Parliament - but didn’t. So we celebrate that date by blowing stuff up. Makes sense. Rumour has it, Guy’s motives were autotelic, but this has yet to be confirmed. Let’s get back to Bryan. The Cooopster. A 4-track EP. Let’s dive in and see if it’s a display of exciting fireworks, or if the display was cancelled due to wet grass…

1. ‘W.Y.P.’

At first I didn’t notice the dots. I thought this was a kooky way of being kinky. But it turns out it is nothing to do with a whip. I then wondered if it was something to do with the beautiful internet lingo we now have at our disposal. Could it perhaps stand for “What’s your problem?”? Yes, this is yet another way that people can be rude and vulgar in double-quick time. God bless modernity and its riches. At our disposal? I am most happy to dispose of THAT one. Okay, so it’s not that. So what can it possibly be about? After a little thought, I came up with something that I didn’t think possible. Bryan surely couldn’t be writing about this. Then I listened to the woyds. Sure enough, this very much made sense. I came up with ‘West Yorkshire Police’. He was/is after all a Yorkshireman… The song shows just how little faith we have these days in our own police force. I strongly suspect Bryan is writing from experience, here. The police will very often do absolutely nothing. Not helpful at all. But who on Earth has written a song about this? For me, this is a first. YOU might be able to mention five very famous songs that I had not thought of, but this is novel for me. Which I love. I would like to point out two lines that you may or may not mishear. Firstly, the last line is not (as I initially heard) “Don’t You Want Me?”. Bryan is not referencing The Human League. He is simply saying “W.Y.P.” - I got it wrong. The other potential mishearing is far more likely, though. “What have you done for me, now?” Is what I heard every time. But in fact, it is “ What have you done for me? Nowt.” - Nowt being a Northern way of saying “nothing”. It isn’t just a question, but a question and answer. How ironic that the shortest song gets the longest lyrical analysis.

2. ‘Landslides’

As far as I can tell, Landslides is a sad song about how life collapses upon us without warning. As the land tumbles, it reveals everything. Those foundations once so strong, eaten by worms. That soul is more open than ever. Willing to hide no more. Open to speech. Open to tears. But there’s a hopeful ending - look on the bright side! Once back on track, those foundations will self-heal and that soul will stand proud once more.

3. ‘Forfeit’

Now, I might be biased here, but I see this as a subtle anti-HAL (anti-A.I.) song. Could be wrong. Could be very wrong. It could also easily be an anti-LinkedIn song. More likely, actually. But either way, the idea is still the same. That these days almost anyone can “be brilliant”… But it’s not THEIR brilliance. It seems that these days we are told how to be. How to be successful, how to organise your life, how to arrange your furniture. How many how-to videos have we watched? How many “life-hack” videos have we devoured? Life is not for hacking. Life is for working out, in your own little way. Heed advice from those who matter and those you trust, by all means, but don’t just follow the manual ad litteram or you won’t be YOU anymore.

4. ‘Scars To Armour’

Good old Nietzsche. Yep, we’re back on philosophy. Were we ever off it...? The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, famously said “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. While this CAN be true, I personally feel this is the more optimistic of the two possible views. The other view being "What doesn't kill you makes you curl up into a ball and rock with paranoiac fear". Bryan sensibly sticks with the former. He isn’t quite following Fred Astaire’s advice, though: “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again”… While he is picking himself up, and no doubt dusting himself off, he is not starting all over again. He is instead learning from his mistakes and coming back stronger. Okay, so he IS starting all over again, but with more “data”. It’s frankly the only way to do life. And yet, so many don’t do this. While life can indeed be a struggle, it is not a battle, and should not be viewed as one. Bryan Cooper seems to view it as his own personal game. He started on his merry way, but fell down trapdoor number one. On his second attempt he avoided trapdoor number one, but fell down trapdoor number two. On his third attempt, he avoided trapdoors one and two, paused for ice cream, then fell down trap door number three. Of course, it does not stop there; he keeps on going, like an arcade-gaming addict. But with every fall he learns something new. Those scars have given him strength and knowledge. He didn’t fall down the first trapdoor and give up: “Sod this, it’s too hard”. Life only has one game. If you give up, there is nothing more. And what better day to listen to ‘Scars To Armour’, than on Remembrance Day? No poppy? We can share.

As the EP's cover suggests: Bryan has backbone. Albeit a wonky backbone, no doubt from the trials of life. But it is this backbone that I hear throughout the entire EP. Some might listen to these 4 songs and hear sadness. I hear strength, courage, wisdom, intelligence and bravery. But most of all, I hear confidence. But not the usual kind. More just the confidence to do things his way. To listen to all, to absorb, observe and acknowledge all of which he is aware, but to then judge for himself. He does what HE feels is right for HIM. We're all different, so we can't all follow the same "rulebook". Every person is different, and every situation is different. I realise now, that Bryan is indeed a brave soldier.

Very unusually (possibly uniquely), I have only mentioned the words of this EP. I have not gone into one single note or sound of a single song. That’s got to be a first for me, surely. Don’t read anything into this. This is not to say the actual music is inferior. It's quite fabulous, if I’m honest. I just thought that many (most) of you might overlook what I see as the truest brilliance of the release: the lyrics. And hats off to Bryan for doing absolutely everything on this record - writing, singing, playing, producing, mixing, mastering, and cover art-ing. If everyone were like him, I would be out of a job! Thankfully, Bryan is a rarity, in more ways than one.

Once again - as with every release from Bryan Cooper - these songs are growers. Don’t expect to be struck from beat one. Or beaten from strike one. After several listens, its brilliance should dawn on you.

As to the music itself, just listen to whole EP (it’s only 10 minutes), then you’ll know what it’s like. Once you’ve listened, listen again - because why not. Then let me and Bryan know in the comments below which is your favourite and why.

Remember remember, the 11th of November. A day to remember those brave men.

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