T.G. Copperfield - All In Your Head (CD)
Thoughts become words. And words become actions. On his new album, ALL IN YOUR HEAD, TG Copperfield explores the power of the inner self.
These are bad times, and they're getting worse. War, hatred, resentment, stupidity, social inequality—escalation as far as the eye can see. All these very real factors have their origin in someone's mind. Every act of hate speech, every injustice, grows from a singular thought that plants itself in the consciousness like a rotten seed and—fed by fear, greed, or insecurity—carries its poisonous fruits out into the world.
It is such processes that TG Copperfield is interested in in his art. The carousels of thoughts and vicious cycles, the twilight, the gloom, and the antiheroes. The one step before and the one over the abyss, the second before the break. He delves into the human psyche, exploring its detours and wrong paths. “ALL IN YOUR HEAD has a rather dark undertone, like all my records.”, explains the restless musician about his twelfth studio album. “You would have better control over everything if you resisted those wicked beginnings that begin in your head.”
Sonically, Copperfield embeds these considerations in straightforward blues rock. The majority of the tracks on ALL IN YOUR HEAD, produced by blues specialist Martin Meinschäfer (Henrik Freischlader, Kai Strauss, among others), are forward-moving, moving directly into the bones. With the irresistible grooves of Copperfield's Electric Band, his magnificent guitar work, his relaxed vocals, and their urgent immediacy, the songs move body and soul.
After his desert trilogy (SNAKES & DUST, OUT IN THE DESERT, STEPPENWOLF), rock 'n' roll dominates here – the magnificent opener "Mule" sets the basic sound for the entire record. In the following "I'm On My Way", the devil is already waiting at the door with pawing hooves, and in "Living On A Knife", as the title suggests, there is an absolute atmosphere of catastrophe. In "Kicked Down By Love", the inner carousel of thoughts rotates relentlessly to the point of dizziness. The "Redemption Blues" explores the psychological nature of human self-pity, and "Not Your Game" asks which inner battles are worth fighting. The title "World War III" speaks for itself. When Copperfield shouts "This is not my World War III", these unmistakably articulated feelings of powerlessness and disgust run through your bones. Despite these heavy themes, a hint of irony, a mischievous wink, shines through in places. For example, in "Have Mercy On Me," a song that's simply fun without any hidden meaning. Or "The Needle Hit The Groove" – “a Dadaist song to which you can think of anything and everything is somehow wrong”, as its creator explains with a smile.
Then there's the title track, "All In Your Head," a list of all the thoughts that spiral in the wrong direction even during their creation. But there is a glimmer of hope: what is bad can also be good. What goes wrong in the brain can also go right. At least if you change your own attitude. And then there is this one, but perhaps most important aspect of all: art begins in the mind. TG Copperfield's new work also once began as a single thought. And now you can hold it in your hands. So there is a little light in the darkness after all. You just have to look closely.
01 Mules
02 I'm On My Way
03 Not Your Game
04 Have Mercy On Me
05 Living On A Knife
06 Kicked Down By Love
07 Redemption Blues
08 World War III
09 All In Your Head
10 The Needle Hit The Groove