The man who brought you ‘September Song’ is back this October with his silky-smooth debut record, Raised Under Grey Skies.
JP Cooper is completely confident and comfortable in what he is doing and it’s rare to find a break-though act like that. From the opening croons of the title-track it’s so easy to buy into the sound the 33-year-old is producing.
You could go as far to call JP Cooper’s work a more organic form of what Ed Sheeran is releasing.
Raised Under Grey Skies follows a number of storylines, the most touching being Cooper’s loss of his mother at a young age. The single ‘Momma’s Prayers’ has a beautiful air of reflection whilst Stormzy, a long-time lover of JP’s work, adds a verse which is arguably the rapper’s best collaboration to date.
Other previous singles ‘She’s On My Mind’, whose introduction is a certified ear-worm, and ‘Passport Home’ sound even better in the context of the album. In terms of charting potential, the phenomenal ‘September Song’ still stands head and shoulders above the rest.
However, there’s no sense of chasing trends. You could go as far to call JP Cooper’s work a more organic form of what Ed Sheeran is releasing.
Heading towards the end of the album, ‘In The Silence’ is a truly remarkable effort that showcases why the Manchester-born singer’s voice is so highly sought after by collaborators such as Jonas Blue and SG Lewis.
There’s little stopping Raised Under Grey Skies being labelled as perfect. Perhaps, 13-tracks is a little too much as some songs are pleasant, but a little forgettable. A more dynamic version would’ve been that final step to achieve perfection.
But that’s splitting hairs. JP Cooper deserves all the admiration he gets for the superb Raised Under Grey Skies.