I forget just how long* I've been hanging on to Phil Cooper's coat tails; long enough to know he's one of the most talented singer-songwriters around and certainly one of the best discoveries I've made in all the years I've been blogging. (And, in the immortal words of Donny Osmond, that's a long, long time.)
The fact that he hails from Bristol and that he's got a brand new album in the shops chimes in perfectly with this year's BlogCon meet-up in the heart of Brizzle (you fancy playing a little pub gig for us, Mr. Cooper?!). 'Playing Solitaire' is jam packed with some beautiful and intricate songs that expose a side of Phil we've rarely seen before. Several songs are quite raw and introspective yet it's still balanced with an underlying wave of positivity. The whole thing appears to have been recorded very sparsely, with primarily just one voice and one guitar - and none the worse for that. It's an album I've been playing the hell out of since it dropped a couple of weeks ago and could well be on the podium come my end of year roundup. My standout track? I'm gonna go for this five and a bit minute slice of homespun wisdom...