insipienza

Jacob Cooper - Save My Death [on The 2011 Believer Music Issue CD]

“Cooper’s opera TimberBrit tells the fictional story of Britney Spears’s final concert, a night when Justin Timberlake tries to win her back. Using original songs from both artists, Cooper “drags” (or slows) the pop tunes until the melodies become taffy-like and unrecognizable. The singers replicate the strange artifacts of time-stretched music: wavering pitch, misheard lyrics, and unexpected melodic motion. Justin and Britney are backed by a band that moves from soft jazz to dreamy shoegaze to bashing hard rock over the course of the opera. Here, Justin’s final “baby” may also be the longest utterance of the word in recorded music.”
— Ross Simonini