Written by Mackenzie Fluharty<\/p>\n
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Ben Cooper\u2019s 2007 album Ghost has easily become the soundtrack of my year and the background music for my DLR work. \u201cWelcome Home,\u201d the second song on the album and listed above, was the gateway song for me, sinking its claws deep into me by opening with wind chimes and with the verse \u201cSheets are swaying from an old clothesline\/Like a row of captured ghosts over old dead grass.\u201d Cooper released the solo album in 2007 under the name Radical Face, and has since released two other albums under that name. On his website, Cooper calls Ghost a \u201cconcept\u201d album, saying that he pulled his inspiration from \u201cthe idea of houses having memories, and people leaving ghosts behind whenever they move from one place to the next. An idea that whatever we do in our homes is collected in the walls and might come out and haunt whoever moves in next.\u201d Cooper claims that when he was in the process of the writing the songs, he noticed that \u201cthe songs are all short stories, tied together with a theme.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWrapped in Piano Strings\u201d is one of my favorites because of the story-like quality that Cooper works into his songs; the second verse in particular has become one of my favorites in the whole song: \u201cI watched you crawl into my bed\/With curses spilling from your head, \/ You said, \u2018We\u2019re just the walking dead.\u2019 \/ So I pulled the trigger and we floated off\u201d and then changes tempo, invoking the image of a village dance with clapping hands and swishing skirts.<\/p>\n [soundcloud url=”https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/52031292″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” \/]<\/p>\n