Musicians are often told to find a lane and stick with it. If anyone ever gave that advice to musician Kevin Koplar, it’s safe to say he ignored it: his debut album To a Better Dark takes a heap of disparate influences—folky singer-songwriters, garage rock, power pop, funk, contemporary pop, and modern indie rock to name a few—and throws them all into a blender to craft a set of ten richly varied tunes tied together by Koplar’s melodic sensibility and unique, ear-catching vocals.
The Arts STL is proud to present the exclusive debut of To a Better Dark, which you can stream in the Soundcloud player below. The album will see wide release on Friday, March 28 courtesy of Gremlin Garage Records.
Koplar was raised in St. Louis, a member of a family famous around these parts (the Koplars founded KPLR 11 and ran the TV station for decades), but after a six-year stint in Thailand, he calls Los Angeles home these days. Though Koplar has released a number of singles over the years, To a Better Dark marks his first full-length album. “The songs are a collection of my ten best songs from my life of songwriting,” says Koplar, “in fully-realized form and with my most up-to-date voice.”
Koplar describes the album’s theme as “embracing the fight as an individual against darker forces of isolation,” that fight fought not just in the lyrics but also in the music, which is decidedly sunny throughout in spite of the sometimes dark or sad topics explored. Single “If You Knock Hard Enough” shows Koplar’s kitchen sink musical approach and sonic-sun-in-the-face-of-sadness approach, taking a bluesy song structure, funking up the rhythm section, and adding in some blaring horns for a little New Orleans flavor (courtesy of Funky Butt Brass Band vets Adam Hucke and Aaron Chandler) as Koplar contemplates the potential return of someone who left his life (A friend? An ex-lover? The lyrics are purposefully vague, and all the better, and more universal, for it.) and wondering if he’ll let them back in or not.
Koplar’s voice on “If You Knock Hard Enough” dances up and down the scales but is often in snotty kiss-off territory, which contrasts nicely with its follow-up “Broken Breeze,” where Koplar’s voice is just above a whisper as he quietly bares his feelings over gentle acoustic guitar and a swelling string section. His acoustic guitar takes a more playful turn on “Blood Sugar,” sounding equal parts folky and jokey, and sounds downright jaunty of “Autopsy Turvy,” his strums warmed up by a sunny string section that makes the whole thing feel very Paul Simon. The gently plucked “Tugboat” even echoes Nick Drake. “The Givers,” by contrast, picks up the pace with bouncy, crunchy power pop guitars paired with some fun, nimble bass work, while the ornate, arpeggiated riff running through “Emiley” gives big Vampire Weekend vibes crossed with Dan Bejar’s work in the New Pornographers.
Interestingly enough, the wide-ranging sonics was not originally part of the album’s blueprints. “The whole record started as a kinda DIY, almost punk-acoustic effort with my friend Rick down the road in Hollywood,” says Koplar. “I met him through our mutual friend ‘Fatty’ (Matt Fischer), who runs an expat rock bar in Bangkok—Fatty was a huge fan of mine from my Thailand years. The record gradually got bigger and bigger as we had a brass section, string quartet, backing vocalists, drummers…finally ending with going to multi-Grammy Award winner Howie Weinberg’s house.” Weinberg is a mastering engineer with the kind of eclectic career where within the same year he mastered the debut albums from 2nd II None and DJ Quik as well as Nirvana’s Nevermind, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish, and Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger (and that’s just his 1991!), making him a fitting partner for the sonic variety Koplar was looking to create. “I drove everyone involved nuts at some point, Koplar says of the recording process, “but we’re all happy with it now.” If you like musical variety, passionate vocals, and are looking for a little sunshine in these gloomy times, you’ll probably be happy with it, too.
For the latest on Koplar, visit his website at kevinkoplar.com or follow him on Bandcamp. | Jason Green
