Claude Cooper - Myriad Sounds

Black vinyl, first pressing of 300

Black vinyl, first pressing of 300 + Limited numbered 'Silver Fox' Grey vinyl 7" of first single 'Tangerine Dreams'

Neon orange vinyl, first pressing of 300

Debut album from Bristol's Claude Cooper released on our own Friendly Recordings label...

“Bristol’s beat scene backdrops late night jams” Mojo ★★★★

“Mysterious Bristol breaks scientist” - Lauren Laverne

“A brilliant and highly expressive debut” Future Music 9/10

“Enjoyably rugged psych-funk romp that nods to Bristol’s legacy of beats and breaks” Uncut 7/10

An irrepressible melange of psychedelic-funk, jazz-breaks and end of the century tr*p-h*p collides with punk spirit in free abandon on ‘Myriad Sounds’, the debut album by the illusive Claude Cooper, arriving at the start of a new year on Friendly Recordings, the newly minted record label of Bristol’s renowned Friendly Records shop. 

Claude Cooper emerged in the depths of last winter with the saxophone-led whirlpool of cymbal crashes and snaking bass on debut single 'Tangerine Dreams'. With strong support from tastemaker radio and DJs, it sensationally sold out a staggering 800 copies on its 7” vinyl release. With Claude disappearing back into the shadows, it was thought it might be a one off...until they resurfaced with this album, recorded during 2021.

It’s the sort of music one would expect to unearth in the hallowed backroom murk of a record shop where layer upon layer of wax plates periodically shift and reveal lost and long overlooked dusty relics just waiting to be freed into the slipstream of the shop floor. It’s a record in constant motion, much like the city, capturing a nature of individualism often associated with Bristol and typified by a renaissance in the jazz and punk scenes there in recent years. A firm focus on beats and low-end frequencies also pays tribute to Bristol’s drum and bass, dubstep and soundsystem culture. At its heart, ‘Myriad Sounds’ is characteristically friendly but constantly poised on rebellion.

The aforementioned smash single ‘Tangerine Dreams’ is matched by the Lalo Schifrin soundtrack worthy ‘Mongoose’ and ‘Stan’s Plan’, while the flute led ‘Bloomfields’ is a slinky late night jam. The rough and tough ‘Magic Circle’ throws together heavily distorted electric bass with stabs worthy of a 70s slasher-film. A treasure map of evocative local landmarks with tracks titles like ‘Stonebridge’, ‘St Nick's House’, ‘Hardenhuish’, and ‘Two Mile Hill’ alludes to celebrate and mythologise Bristol and the West. Are these merely placeholders or oblique clues that Claude Cooper has purposely teased?