Album: Chris Cohen – Paint a Room

Painting a room is idiosyncratic, but an absolute delight. And accessible too. The 10 songs are permeated with a summery mood and glitter like the surface of a lake catching the rays of the setting sun. There is a lightness, a lightness that is immediately fascinating.

Chris Cohen has created an album that is jazzy, yet has a sensibility that makes it a distant relative of Allah Las at their best, or the more delicate side of early Tame Impala. There are flutes, brass, saxophone, coconut shell-like sounds, guitars that sound watery, and Cohen’s languid, almost discordant voice. The gorgeous album opener, “Damage,” sums it all up in just under three minutes. What follows is the musical equivalent of daydreaming in a boat drifting across that figurative lake.

It is not clear what contributed to this. However, there are some clues. There are references to Jorge Ben, Milton Naschimento and Gary McFarland from around 1965. In tone album. Somewhat more contemporary, “Wishing Well” is structurally similar – probably coincidentally – to “Swimming Ground” from Meat Puppets’ 1985 On the sun Album. In strange moments, France’s Tahiti 80 and Stereolab around the time of the 1997 Dots and loops also come to mind.

This is the fourth solo album from Los Angeles-based Cohen. His resume is extensive. From 2003 to 2005 he was with edgy art-rockers Deerhoof. There were also albums with his own band The Curtains. Collaborations too, including with—relevant here in terms of how the musical milestones implied are filtered—Ariel Pink. He has produced and played with Marina Allen, Amber Arcades, Weyes Blood and Cass McCombs. There was session work for Kurt Vile. Cohen’s last album, a 2019 set of the same name, presented a spacey pop that was a little reminiscent of New Zealand chills. Painting a roomgoes far beyond that. “Close my eyes until it’s over,” Cohen sings in the title track. If you take it positively, it’s good advice and the best way to appreciate this gem.

@MrKieronTyler