i believed the stars were wishes

There’s a humble little new iTunes EP out from Radical Face, one of the musical projects of Florida’s Ben Cooper (the other one being the equally fantastic Electric President). The six-song Touch The Sky (Welcome Home) EP is a collection of alternates and b-sides, and includes an alternate version and a reprise of the song “Welcome Home” (which I fawned over here, one of my favorites of his).

Here’s one track from the new EP, all about the things we believed in when we were kids. Maybe I just have Arcade Fire on the brain, what with the rush of heat surrounding their new album, but I can’t help feeling like this song sounds like a kindred spirit to an Arcade Fire demo:

Doorways – Radical Face

The next full-length album from Radical Face is fully tracked and will be out soon. I can’t wait. It will be the first in a trilogy of albums, and is called The Roots. I am growing seriously, deeply attached to all of Ben Cooper’s output these days.

here beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs press into my skin again

Ben Cooper is from Jacksonville, Florida, and sometimes makes music under the name Radical Face. Although it sounds like the band name of an exuberant bunch of 14-year old skater punks, Radical Face music is intricate and echoey, hummable and immensely enjoyable.

This song from his 2007 album Ghost has been the soundtrack to my afternoon. The ooooh-ey harmonies remind me a bit of Shins goodness, and I really like the clapping, shuffling percussion that makes the song feel like tape reels, winding and rewinding in a vacant room. One writer noted that the windchimes that start the song are almost “like the song was carried on a breeze through an open porch screen door.”

Yes.

Welcome Home, Son – Radical Face

Ben also plays music with friend Alex Kane and together they become Electric President, another band I enjoy.

They released a new album last month called The Violent Blue (on Fake Four Records), and the “first proper Electric President show in a long while” will take place at SXSW this year!

We’ll count that as just one more of the many reasons I am excited about Austin in five weeks.

Safe and Sound – Electric President (new song)