Copeland: Eat, Sleep, Repeat

Copeland burst in to the indie rock world in 2003 with their critically-acclaimed album Beneath Medicine Tree. This album took just about everyone by surprise, including me. Seemingly out of left field Copeland came on to the scene and blew many socks off. Well composed tracks with haunting melodies; Beneath Medicine Tree was near perfection. Several years have passed since 2003 however and Copeland’s newest release Eat, Sleep, Repeat makes me long for the days Copeland was on the top of their game. While a fairly decent collection of songs; Eat, Sleep, Repeat simply fails to be anything special. It's not a bad effort, but it fails to be anything original. If they had come on to the scene with this album as their debut I think most people would have taken one listen, said, “Nothing special here” and quickly moved on. Copeland does a few things well on this album however and a few tracks like “Where’s My Head” and “When You Thought You’d Never Stand Out” are a refreshing escape from what is otherwise a fairly dull album. Lyrically Copeland seems to be forcing out songs on this effort whereas tracks on Beneath Medicine Tree seemed to flow so effortlessly. Copeland just signed a major deal with Columbia Records however and I have faith that they can get through this slump and come out swinging in their new label home.

Rating out of 4 Stars: * *