CD Review: Copesetic – The Keys EP

Utterly impossible to pigeonhole artsy, tuneful rockers Copesetic – they’re nothing if not original and that’s a good thing. With plenty of hooks, harmonies and a groove that lends itself to sprawling out, they’d go over big on the jam band circuit. The opening track for some reason is called The Pickle Ditty, slide guitar over sparse acoustic with almost operatic vocals, then it gets funky, morphs into a big stomp and then into bouncy, cheery almost Penny Lane pop. Anytime also kicks off funky, blending late-period Beatlesque pop with a big grandiose 6/8 classic rock ballad feel, layers of jangly and crunchy guitar with sweeping organ behind them. The next cut, Veritas is another big but brief 6/8 anthem with the frontman howling through a bullhorn effect: imagine a straight Freddie Mercury.

Keys, which seems to be a title track of sorts builds from a thoughtful acoustic funk/jazz vibe with a latin beat, crunchy guitars finally kicking in with a gleeful “yeah!” Last cut on the cd is Be Here Now, yet another one in 6/8, which is actually pretty cool, starting out pensive and pastoral with a slightly jazzy tinge in the spirit of early 70s British art-rock bands like Nektar, building to a wildly beautiful, guitar-stoked crescendo.

If there anything to criticize here, it’s the vocals which are sometimes completely over the top, staggering from grungy slur to lazy Allmans drawl in places. Nothing wrong with New Jersey, dudes: you guys went for Obama last time out. This is a fun, summery record: Copesetic sound like they could be even more fun live. They’re at the Boro 6 Music Festival in Montclair, NJ on June 21.