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Copia
Reassemble/Reappear
http://copiaband.com
Long Beach's Copia know from their moodily romantic 21st century postpunk that's equal parts British Isles and North America — indeed, that's not only the core thing to say about them, in respects it's almost the only thing to say about their debut EP. Reassemble/Reappear finds the quintet working very much within a form and style, and as such they're not yet making a strong mark of their own, but it's the kind of effort that is still effortlessly enjoyable for what it is.
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The EP's starting track “Dead End Future” helps to clarify where they're coming from: there's a classically high, bright and clean sound to their work, gently melodramatic and carefully sculpted, a bit more energetic than Coldplay but far less fraught than Interpol. The closing “Sleepyhead” is also notable, a slow burn of a song that starts off contemplative but, like “Dead End Future,” builds up a bit as it goes — perhaps not to Arcade Fire overdrive levels, but in accomplished-enough form.
The remaining songs are more of a mix and a type, keyboards taking lead roles (notably during the break on “Conversations”) and calm, softer voiced singing set against sometimes more energetic rhythms, a bit of low key tension. Nothing leaps out as a breakout song but it's a step above simple woodshedding, the kind of understated ambition that drives not only the sound of acts in this vein but, presumably, their own overall approach. It's a familiar start on balance, but nonetheless, a start.
“Reassemble/Reappear” can be purchased on iTunes and heard on copia.bandcamp.com/
