Copilots
Sunstroke (Drip Audio)

Maybe it’s just that I need to take the disc out of the computer and over to an actual stereo with real speakers, but I have barely a clue about singer-guitarist Skye Brooks’s concerns on Sunstroke, Copilots’ second release for Jesse Zubot’s Drip Audio imprint. A few key phrases—“be free again and again”; “by yourself when you can/you do it for fun”—loom out of the fog, which is generated not so much by the band’s caterwauling guitars or Zubot’s atmospherically smeared production as by Brooks’s habit of swallowing his consonants.

The overall effect is one of hard-won optimism struggling against entropy, underpinned by Copilots’ penchant for slow-rising chord sequences and undercut by passages in which the whole band appears to tumble into the void. To further complicate matters, African-inspired rhythms—in his other life Brooks is a sublimely gifted drummer, although his similarly accomplished half brother Dylan Smith is at the kit here—often butt up against grainy postrock guitar squalls. It’s often difficult to pin down just where, exactly, this music is coming from.

These are observations, not criticisms, however. What’s most important about Copilots is that Brooks and company know how to set a mood—and how to escape from one, too. Tracks like the 11-minute-long “Come to Life” and the almost equally lengthy “Defences” are entrancing, episodic journeys, while shorter attention spans will gravitate to the brief and catchy “Mountain of Time”.

Something for everyone? Maybe not, but Sunstroke is certainly something for those who haven’t given up on the creative potential of two guitars, keyboards, bass, and drums.