A Fantastic (but Frustrating) Fragment

Artist: Citizen Cope
Album: The Rainwater LP
Label: Rainwater Recordings, February 2010

Clarence Greenwood sounds tired. But that’s nothing new. In fact, I would argue that Greenwood's weathered, weary voice is what makes The Rainwater LP endlessly mesmerizing, despite its faults. On his fourth album as Citizen Cope, Clarence Greenwood continues to juxtapose tantalizing hip-hop and reggae-influenced beats with unusual chord patterns and melancholy yet menacing vocals—a combination that ends up sounding something like a chilled out island jam after a devastating hurricane.

The Rainwater LP begins on a sad note, with gently strummed guitar chords backed by walls of somber piano over which Greenwood croons “Keep asking, how long will my love it last?” The song is concise and curiously catchy—a great beginning to the record..
Greenwood continues to impress with the second track, “Healing Hands.” Over a more uptempo beat, Greenwood sings “I will never forget your healing hands my love, you gave me daylight, you gave me sunlight.” Then, as the song begins to unravel around reverse echoes and sampled snatches of the chorus, a transcendent moment of otherworldly beauty rises out of the ashes—a moment much too big for words.

From that nigh-unto-miraculous point, the album’s progress becomes rather rocky. The singable tunes are tolerable but not excellent and Greenwood’s sonic experiments backfire on a few of the more adventurous tracks. For instance, “Jericho” sounds like it could have been a good song until the unhinged synthesizer track took over, while the funky organ on “I Couldn’t Explain Why” undercuts the enchanting sound of Greenwood’s voice.

When I examined the lyrics of The Rainwater LP closely, I must admit that I was slightly disappointed. While Greenwood spreads an aura of grief, hope, and honesty with his distinctive vocal tones, the actual words are often almost nonsensical. I could forgive him this propensity for ambiguity, except that he has simultaneously developed a nasty habit of attacking the government, the press, and the wealthy with very generic, uninspired lines like “The actions of a few, have put a world in harm’s way, and history has proven that they killed our leaders dead.” Trying to sort out his meanings in these songs is a little like navigating an unfamiliar house in the dark. In the end, I find that it is easier to stop trying, sit down, and enjoy the shadows.

As a whole, I would say that the album is a failure. For one thing, it is altogether too short. There are a total of ten songs, two of which are just “acoustic” repeats of earlier tracks (minus the piano and drums). Perhaps if Greenwood had called the album The Rainwater LP I would be more understanding.

To be fair, I suspect that the brevity and simplicity of The Rainwater LP is at least in part due to the increased difficulty of producing independently. Greenwood has never been able to get along with record companies, having gone through two different labels in the span of three albums before going independent on this, his latest effort. Despite all this, I found the sound to be impressively crisp and thick, with a nice balance between the beats, the instruments, and the vocals.

Fans of Citizen Cope will also notice that the album marks a slight departure from previous work, as Greenwood focuses more on the guitar and vocals (probably resulting from the ease of recording more acoustic tracks). If Greenwood would write more songs with concrete images or coherent stories, I think I could get used to this more conventional singer-songwriter side of his personality. Until then, I will continue listening to the smattering of excellent tunes off The Rainwater LP and hope that Citizen Cope plays a show in my area soon.