Country : Canada (Quebec) Label : Indy Genres and styles : Alternative Rock / Jazz Year :

Crossroad Copeland – Cope Land

· by Frédéric Cardin

Ouuuuuuhhhhh that’s good. I won’t waste time : this album of the Crossroad Copeland collective is already on my list of albums of the year 2023. That’s it. Now, of course, why? Because I found in this octet led by Montreal guitarist and composer Ben Copland Gilbert similar to a big part of the ecstatic pleasure I had more than 20 years ago filling my ears with Mike Patton’s exploding adventures with Mr Bungle. Yes, this is the kind of heady ride that crosses and fuses jazz, metal, rap and lyricism like a gifted child would build a castle out of diverse Lego blocks. Musical nuclear fusion at its best (take note physicists : the musical world has done it way before you).

In the majority of the pieces of the album, the gleaming horns, the insistent guitars, the muscular bass and the unleashed drums are the deafening testimonies (yes!!!) of a fruitful dialogue between various stylistic inspirations very well stirred in a broth of burst culture.

This is especially true of the first ¾ (or so) of the album in which one savors the perfect mixing of textures as opposite as those of a saturated and grating guitar, vibrating brass choruses, sometimes rap and elsewhere the beautiful angelic voice, very French sixties (like a Michel Legrand musical) of Jeanne Laforest. I’m thinking here of the first two tracks on the record, Lift Off and High, which propel us into the stratosphere of jubilant eclecticism.

Elsewhere, it’s heavy and rather acidic blues, and then, a few health breaks allow us to catch our breath and realign our panting Zenitude.

The conclusion of this exciting opus is surprisingly gentle, as if there was no need double dip in that kind of energy. A bit like the finale of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a long coda that let the emotions settle. Some had criticized it. In the end, I say that’s exactly what had to be done. Same thing here. We are given time to breathe and assimilate gradually every bit of intense emotion we’ve been thrown at.Bonus : this lets us appreciate even more accurately the musicality of the whole band, capable of as beautiful things in delicate mode as in “all out” mode. Last track, “Playground,” a Zeppelin-esque hymn could be, willing or not, a wink to Stairway. Nice. 

It seems to me that if it doesn’t make you want to let Cope Land rattle your cage right away, it never will. And, if you like it, don’t just listen to it. Buy it! They deserve it.

Line up

Ben Copland Gilbert, guitar, rap, compositions, lead
Carl Mayotte, bass
Alex Desjardins, trombone
Violet Hébert et Antoine Tardif, trumpets
Gregory Kustka-Tsimbidis, drums
Jeanne Laforest, voice
Hugo Leclerc, saxophone

Latest 360 Content

Vitta Morales, Our Versatile Colleague

Vitta Morales, Our Versatile Colleague

Late-Night Warehouse Ambiance for Juan Atkins All-Nighter at the SAT

Late-Night Warehouse Ambiance for Juan Atkins All-Nighter at the SAT

Lifeguard – Ripped and Torn

Lifeguard – Ripped and Torn

Brainwasher – At Least It Beats an Actor

Brainwasher – At Least It Beats an Actor

Nicholas Daniel – Complete Works for Oboe by Madeleine Dring

Nicholas Daniel – Complete Works for Oboe by Madeleine Dring

Christine Tassan; Marie-Véronique Bourque – Bruissement boréal

Christine Tassan; Marie-Véronique Bourque – Bruissement boréal

Lanaudière Festival | Metropolitan Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin/Marc-André Hamelin: When Nature Drives the Concert

Lanaudière Festival | Metropolitan Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin/Marc-André Hamelin: When Nature Drives the Concert

Festival de Lanaudière | Sol Gabetta : Queen of the cello meets les Violons du Roy

Festival de Lanaudière | Sol Gabetta : Queen of the cello meets les Violons du Roy

The “rodas de samba” That Never End

The “rodas de samba” That Never End

Friday night at the Dômesicle – All night long with Jump Source

Friday night at the Dômesicle – All night long with Jump Source

Éli Doyon et la Tempête – Attraper le ciel avant qu’il tombe

Éli Doyon et la Tempête – Attraper le ciel avant qu’il tombe

Barbara Hannigan; Katia et Marielle Labèque – Electric Fields

Barbara Hannigan; Katia et Marielle Labèque – Electric Fields

Fire, Fungi, and Family Fun: The ShazamFest XX Experience

Fire, Fungi, and Family Fun: The ShazamFest XX Experience

Festival de Lanaudière | Kent Nagano: The eternal, and always welcome, return

Festival de Lanaudière | Kent Nagano: The eternal, and always welcome, return

Tyler, the Creator – DON’T TAP THE GLASS

Tyler, the Creator – DON’T TAP THE GLASS

Off Piknic with Gorgon City, Dennis Ferrer, Riordan, and Linska

Off Piknic with Gorgon City, Dennis Ferrer, Riordan, and Linska

Jeff Bridges – Slow Magic, 1977-1978

Jeff Bridges – Slow Magic, 1977-1978

Piknic Electronik | DJ Fuckoff Turns Up The Heat for Pep Rally

Piknic Electronik | DJ Fuckoff Turns Up The Heat for Pep Rally

Orford 2025 | Collectif9: folk that innovates and grooves

Orford 2025 | Collectif9: folk that innovates and grooves

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | The next global star of Tuareg blues is born, and it is in Montreal

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | The next global star of Tuareg blues is born, and it is in Montreal

Ruby Creek – Forget Me Not

Ruby Creek – Forget Me Not

Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out

Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out

Ross Lee Finney : Landscapes Remembered

Ross Lee Finney : Landscapes Remembered

Lanaudière Festival | The Sparkle of Strauss, Schumann, and Brahms in Joliette

Lanaudière Festival | The Sparkle of Strauss, Schumann, and Brahms in Joliette

Subscribe to our newsletter