Copeland singer/songwriter Aaron Marsh has come off as the King of Nice in the indie pop world for the past seven years, and now he and his bandmates are offering a collection of their sappiest B-sides as an aural valentine to their love-struck listeners.
Copeland’s greatest strengths have also always been their greatest weaknesses: consistently striking melodies that soar on the wings of Marsh’s gossamer, choir-boy lilt and pleasant, polished atmospherics. But as Dressed Up & In Line‘s upright title suggests, the music never oversteps its self-imposed boundaries.
No true evolution is evident among the band’s three albums, and their Dressed Up counterparts fail to impress. “You Love To Sing,” an already-droopy melodrama off 2005’s In Motion, now drags even more profusely. The re-imagined “When Paula Sparks,” originally found on their 2003 debut Beneath Medicine Tree, gets a shot of Ben Gibbard-like solemnity and “dare-we-do-it?” distortion.
The cover songs are even more atrocious. The Soundgarden classic “Black Hole Sun” gets castrated, morphing into an emo mess. And any trace of irony and cool creepiness that Sting conjured in “Every Breath You Take” is replaced with an almost hymn-like nature, which plods along for six unbearable minutes.
It’s been a tough year for Marsh. Bassist James Likeness departed for a career in graphic design, and the group parted ways with major label Columbia Records. But if this lifeless collection of rare songs is the singer’s way of begging fans for sympathy, he’s got to yell a little bit louder to really be understood.
– Melissa Bobbitt
Copeland: www.thecopelandsite.com
The Militia Group: www.themilitiagroup.com