Description
Ray Cooper (Ex Oysterband)
'Even Like A Shadow' is his fifth solo album. It shows both Ray's ability as a song-writer and multi-instrumentalist and also as an arranger. It features collaborations with singers Emma Hardelin (Garmarna, Triakel), Kathryn Roberts (Equation, Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman), Sunniva Bondesson (Baskery), as well as musicians John Eriksson drums (Peter Bjorn and John), Anders Peev nyckelharpa, Gustav Andersson piano, Ben Paley fiddle, and trumpets and trombones from some friendly church musicians in Hamburg. Ray sings and plays piano, guitars, cello, bass, harmonica, harmonium, mandolin, percussion and kantele. The album was recorded in Ray's log cabin studio in Sweden with additional overdubs in Devon, Hamburg, and Berlin, and mixed by Al Scott in Brighton.
Ray speaking of his new album: "A journey, and a long one, over forty solo tours in the last twelve years and a lot of time to think. I get many of my song ideas when I am driving; it is also the only time I listen to music. These songs are my memories, imagined conversations and thoughts. This album is like a ar journey and the kind of radio I would like to hear, but rarely find." Ray's music straddles both folk, world music, rock and the singer-songwriter tradition, drawing on his wide experience in all these areas, from playing ceilidh music with Oysterband or rocking out on festival stages, to playing Swedish folk music in the local Sormland tradition where he lives. Ray is also a member of two Swedish folk groups, Malmabygdens Spelman and Slangpolska Social Club.