Max Cooper explores the Spectrum

NEW ALBUM UNSPOKEN WORDS RELEASED THIS FRIDAY (25TH MARCH) ON MESH

PRIVATE LISTENING PARTY AT L-ACOUSTICS, HIGHBURY TOMORROW AND AUDIO/VISUAL SHO

W AT THE ROUNDHOUSE, LONDON ON 2ND APRIL (PLEASE REPLY FOR GUESTLIST TO EITHER)

MAX COOPER’S new album project Unspoken Words is set to be released this Friday (25th March) on MESH.

Today he shares new single “Spectrum” and its accompanying video.

Cooper has been exploring the difficulties of communicating with words as part of the Unspoken Words project. The title “Spectrum” is a reference to what Cooper describes as “the valence of language along a positive to negative scale of mood, which we need to work with when describing emotive states.”

“An internal state, for me, at least, is a speckled sampling of this spectrum, perhaps tilted in one way more than another, but always in relation to the spectrum and moving with each new thought,” he continues.  “Writing the music created a melting pot of feelings for me. It’s carries a lot of hope and happiness, but also sadness and reflection, without there being any conflict. It’s a simple example of how language is a poor tool when it comes to describing an internal state succinctly and accurately, where music can do so, far more effectively and directly. “

As an audio-visual artist, Cooper often goes to the medium of film to enhance his music and the ideas and stories which inspire and inform his work. “Spectrum” is one of 13 short films combined into Unspoken Words and the metanarrative (released as a film on Blu-ray to accompany the album on 25th March).

For the “Spectrum” music video, Cooper was keen to explore the visual analogy of the colour spectrum, and presenting it in partial, changing form, in relation to human imagery.

“I chatted to the artist and film creator Christian Stangl about the project, and he came up with the idea of using rocks with partial crystal structures, water and lighting effects to explore the natural creation of colour spectra from split white light. The system yielded some structures reminiscent of human form, and Christian created human apparitions amongst them to be discovered with each viewing.”

About Unspoken Words

“I’ve always struggled with words.

“Trying to communicate anything meaningful about my internal state, in any way which seems to do it justice, has always been beyond me.

“But music bypasses language. It is my means of expression, which is why I make a lot of it – I’m compelled to create.” – Max Cooper, 2022

Unspoken Words is Max Cooper’s most revealing work to date, leading the listener through experiences of escapism and connection with personal stories of reflection, acceptance, grappling, idealism and rejection.

The raw expression of Cooper’s own mental state illuminates the universal experience of being human. Unspoken Words offers common ground, a unifying space for anyone who faces internal discordance and feels the need for greater connection and greater expression.

Speaking about the process of writing Unspoken Words, Max continus: “I find existing inside my mind to be a sometimes beautiful, sometimes intense, sometimes abrasive, messy, baffling, relentless experience, and I’ve tried to put as much of that feeling and form as I could into the album.”

The deftly mixed audio is accompanied by a visual story which unfolds through 13 short films by a range of visual artists commissioned and directed by Max Cooper, and mixed in Dolby Atmos surround sound.

“For the Atmos mix I worked with Will Cohen and Niels Orens on a structure containing multiple perspectives via stereo elements on different alignments,” explains Cooper. “If you’re listening with Atmos headphones with head tracking and you turn your head, elements that sounded central and mono will expand into stereo with new information, while other elements will collapse, so that the listening experience is dependent on the direction in which you face and the music becomes interactive.”

Max Cooper Unspoken Words tracklisting

Unspoken Words

Inanimate to Animate (feat. Kotomi)

A Model Of Reality (feat. Kotomi)

Ascent

Spectrum

Pulse At The Centre Of Being

Symphony In Acid

Exotic Contents

Broken Machines Broken Dreams

Solace In Structure

Small Window On The Cosmos

Everything

Stream Of Thought

Unspoken Words will be released on Mesh on 25th March on Blu-Ray + CD, vinyl and digital. Pre-order HERE.

Album artwork designed by Zach Lieberman and Colin Droz. Further information around the album and the forthcoming augmented reality exhibition will be found at the companion website www.unspokenwords.net

Max Cooper live A/V shows

26 Mar – Sheffield, Hope Works

02 April – London, Roundhouse

02 April – London, Village Underground (DJ set)

07 April – Eindhoven, STRP, Muziekgebouw

08 April – Amsterdam, Paradiso

14 April – Glasgow, SWG3 Studio Warehouse

15 April – Antwerp, Trix

16 April – Moscow, ZIL Culture Centre

20 April – Cambridge, Junction

21 April – Norfolk, Norwich Arts Centre

28 May – California, Lightning In A Bottle

11 June – Margate, Sands Festival, Dreamland

24 June – Mallorca, Mallorca Live

03 July – Largs, The Kelburn Garden Party