I discovered Radical Face (Ben Cooper) via Bon Iver's Pandora channel years ago. Bon Iver's Pandora was meant to be soothing background noise as I worked my first 9-5. Radical Face foiled the "background noise" aspect of my plan. I found myself listening to a sad but addicting audiobook. The Roots is the first installment of Ben's concept trilogy called The Family Tree. It's followed by The Branches and The Leaves.
These are more than songs. They're dark stories of a dysfunctional family written by someone with firsthand knowledge of the damage that broken families can inflict. The brutal honesty keeps you listening but it's also heartbreaking. Music and masochism go well together. Ben plays his personal life close to the vest. He hates touring and never fully addresses if his songs are autobiographical. While he does hint on his website that his personal life is found in the details of his stores, he doesn't specify how or where they play a part. Various online forums composed of his cult following state things like he had a brother who had gone astray and died, which is referenced a few times on the album. "Always Gold" is a sort of anthem proclaiming his love for his brother with a charming childhood backdrop. Ben takes it a step further in "Severus and Stone," implying that they were twins. Others on the forums have said Ben's father was abusive and didn't accept him for being gay. The song "Family Portrait" does indeed portray his father as a man who certainly had his demons and hung himself when Ben was still young after abusing both Ben and his sister for years after their mother died during Ben's birth. The speculation of even the darkest concept albums can be fun. The incredible music woven with even better storytelling makes for a great listen, but man is it dark.
After Radical Face I need to cheer myself up by going back to listening to songs about getting dumped in high school.
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