Album Details

• Artist: Copilots
• Album: Escape Through The Trees
• Label: Drip Audio
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2009-06-08

C'mon get happy! Copilots deliver a bright message of hope in a way that is authentic, rocking, and never precious. The songs here reflect a hard-won optimism, won through personal battles with trauma and in the pain of their friends. That said, this is also a fun record, a power pop epic with some rough edges to keep it real.

While singer Skye Brooks is the key player here, with his wobbly but honest vocals and guitar driving most of the songs. While bassist Pete Schmitt's major contribution is sonic, his harrowing "All That I Am" is a highlight of the record. Brooks' "We Will Sleep Again, "Husk," and "Found Something," though, neatly sum up the record: rocking and bouncy with a nod to the past, and lyric odes and exhortations of bravery and recovery. This would be nostalgic if not for the fact that the songs sound so present. Troubles still filter through the lives of the band and of their friends; but they know how to stand their ground. And write amazing songs to prove it.

"Escape Through the Trees" ends on a graceful and powerful note. "Drink the Moon" is one of those carpe diem songs that might a sappy, diabetes-inducing mess in lesser hands. Here though, Copilots deliver the message straight up and without sentiment. That is their strength.

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