Interview: Hein Cooper
The last 12 months have been massive for Hein Cooper – he nabbed a slot at Falls Festival, got two singles on rotation on triple j, and has just wrapped up a nationwide tour supporting James Bay. It doesn’t look like Cooper is slowing down anytime soon. His debut album ‘The Art of Escape’ (a chill sun-soaked folk listen) is set to drop in March. We chatted with Cooper about his upcoming album, The Matrix, and why 2016 will be his biggest year yet.
You’ve just come off a tour supporting James Bay, how was that?
That was amazing. We got to do all of the major cities of Australia and it was really inspirational watching someone like that do his thing on stage. It definitely influenced my performance for sure.
Describe your music to me if I’d never listened to it before?
First of all I’d say the main thing that brings it all together is that I’m a songwriter. There is a pop sensibility to my songs but the approach to the sound of my music is quite broad – I don’t treat each of my songs the same, I look at what each of them need. I feel like I have a more experimental sound so I’m on a journey through different sounds but mainly folk, soul and indie-electronic music.
Listening to your album I did notice it’s pretty eclectic in sound. When you were writing did you consciously think of trying to create a diverse album?
Definitely. I mean the intention wasn’t to have the album be diverse it kind of just ended up coming out that way because I just treated the songs individually and they all needed different things.
You worked with Marcus Paquin on the album, who’s worked with amazing bands like Arcade Fire, The National, and Local Natives, how was that experience?
It was exciting. It was awesome. I still remember the first time I met him, which was on Skype, we talked for like 45 minutes about working together. It was really good because we didn’t know each other and I went all the way to Montreal with everything already organised to record the album with somebody I’d only really chatted to on Skype and email. So it couldn’t have worked unless it was meant to be and it was definitely meant to be.
Who else are your influenced by musically?
I’m definitely influenced by Jeff Buckley and the way he sings. Musically Radiohead, Bon Iver, Ben Howard, Jack Garratt. And I actually love Arcade Fire, Local Natives, and The National. Marcus worked with all of them so that’s another reason why that ended up being amazing. And Beck, I love Beck.
Did you hear the Jeff Buckley cover of the Smiths (I Know It’s Over)?
Haha no. Have you listened to it? I’ll have to have a listen.
I was reading that your song The Real was inspired by The Matrix, is that true?
Yep 100% true. I love that movie so much. I just love the way it’s basically humans are plugged into artificial intelligence control and they are just projected a completely false reality. It’s a huge exaggeration of the real world that we live in but it can be like that at times. People are kind of like zombies looking at advertising and living their lives in a really robotic way. That’s pretty much the basis of The Real.
So you would take the red pill not the blue pill?
Yes, exactly!
You have a song on your album called All My Desires about wanting everything all at once, what are you wanting and where do you see yourself in the future?
I just want to tour my album with the band everywhere. That’s what I want to do right now – spend the next year touring with the band. Then I want to record another album and progress and then do it all over again. That’s it. So let’s pray to the gods for that one.
Hein Cooper Tour Dates
THUR 18 FEB
Byron Bay Brewery, Byron Bay
FRI 19 FEB
The Foundry, Brisbane
SAT 20 FEB
Sol Bar, Maroochydore
THUR 25 FEB
Workers Club, Geelong
FRI 26 FEB
Howler, Melbourne
SAT 27 FEB
Anita’s Theatre, Wollongong
FRI 4 MAR
The Basement, Sydney
SAT 5 MAR
Transit Bar, Canberra
SUN 6 MAR
Nannup Festival, Nannup
MON 7 MAR
Nannup Festival, Nannup
SAT 12 MAR
Lizottes, Newcastle
FRI 18 MAR
Pirie & Co Social Club, Adelaide
SAT 19 MAR
Jimmy’s Den, Perth
Get Tickets HERE
