You Could Be A Cop/Amid The Old Wounds - Split LP

Labels: Adagio830/Friend Club Records/Motorpool Records/Slow Down Records/Strictly No Capital Letters/Time As A Color Records

Formats: Vinyl/Digital

Release Date: 27 Aug 2021

Tracklist:

1. You Could Be A Cop - Against The Bleeding Skyline

2. You Could Be A Cop - Untitled

3. You Could Be A Cop - The Cakes Are Burnt

4. You Could Be A Cop - Still The Same?

5. Amid The Old Wounds - A Friend In Need

6. Amid The Old Wounds - You've Reached The End

7. Amid The Old Wounds - Anywhere

8. Amid The Old Wounds - Let It Slide (No Use For A Name cover)

Another working week has flown by and all I want to do is relax. Thankfully, this loverly split featuring Norwegian/English band You Could Be A Cop and German acoustic solo-project Amid The Old Wounds is around to help. Sent to me by my longtime friend Daniel Becker, this record is housed in a glorious gatefold sleeve with black and white collage artwork, while the vinyl itself comes in either sky blue or black (this one), limited to 300 copies in total. Expect soothing indie/emo tones throughout and even a punk cover song too.

I said there’d be soothing tones and I wasn’t lying. You Could Be A Cop start things off on this split with four songs. Opener ‘Against The Bleeding Skyline’ sees guest Tonje Tafjord adding glorious vocal melodies amongst a backdrop of melodic guitars and subtle percussion. There are moments that venture beyond their light emo/punk sound, but they’re only fleeting, ‘Untitled’ sees the band going on their own in a calm and measured manner. It’s hard to think of comparisons but bands like maybe Annabel and Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) might spring to mind.

The unassuming male/female vocals of on ‘The Cakes Are Burnt’ match the instrumentation perfectly, with  Natalie, Marius and Mortem creating something that’s brimming with genuine emotion even when delivered in near spoken-worn fashion at times. The mixing/mastering takes nothing away from that emotion either, allowing You Could Be A Cop to be themselves. The band’s final song ‘Still The Same’ captures their intricate yet easy-listening approach perfectly. The additional vocals by Anders Kojen add extra body to the song, alongside some harsher vocals that sit deeper in the recording.

The second half of the split belongs to Amid The Old Wounds. I don’t know if any of you feel the same way but I prefer these splits where bands have their own dedicated sides, compared to those where bands play one song after the other band’s played one, if that makes sense. ‘A Friend In Need’ picks up where the project’s Vignette 7” left off last year. Both Daniel’s voice and acoustic guitar work are so calming, while the recording is such that the music seems to project itself out of the speakers, even at low volume.

‘You’ve Reached The End’ is a sombre piece of indie pop. It’s slow tempo and pensive vocals act as prompts for reflection, and they work really well. There’s less of an emo influence to Daniel’s music here, but genre lines are still blurred much like elsewhere. ‘Anywhere’ (originally a Wishes On A Plane song) goes on by very quickly, but in a focused way. I think the song-writing throughout this split is very strong, though especially that of Amid The Old Wounds.

The split’s closing song is a cover of ‘Let It Slide’ by No Use For A Name. It’s a great version of the song, which is played in the same singer-songwriter vein and in doing so, it stays recognisable. This split is the perfect accompaniment to these late summer days, as the light begins to fade earlier and earlier each night. Warm, reassuring and peaceful. Love it!

The full split can be streamed digitally below:-

You Could Be A Cop - https://www.facebook.com/youcouldbeacop

Amid The Old Wounds - https://www.facebook.com/amidtheoldwounds

Physical copies can be purchased from the below labels (you can also buy digital downloads from them too):-

Adagio830 - https://adagio830-records.bandcamp.com/

Friend Club Records - https://www.friendclubrecords.com/

Slow Down Records - https://slowdownrecords.bandcamp.com/

Strictly No Capital Letters - https://sncl.collective-zine.co.uk/

Time As A Color Records - https://timeasacolor.com/

Adagio830 - https://www.facebook.com/ADAGIO830

Friend Club Records - https://www.facebook.com/FriendClubRecords

Motorpool Records - https://twitter.com/rufenpub

Slow Down Records - https://twitter.com/recordsslow

Strictly No Capital Letters - https://www.facebook.com/strictlynocapitalletters

Time As A Color Records - https://www.facebook.com/timeasacolor