Beverly Glenn-Copeland, “In the Image” (ORG Music)
A transgender man, Canadian-American composer/musician Beverly Glenn-Copeland has created a distinctive body of work that blends folk, New Age, jazz, and dance music that’s gone overlooked for too long. Check out 1986’s Keyboard Fantasies for a sublime introduction to Glenn-Copeland’s unique fusions. He is overdue for the same sort of critical rehabilitation and profile elevation that ambient-music maverick Laraaji enjoyed earlier this decade.
So it’s great news that ORG Music has just reissued Primal Prayer, which Glenn-Copeland originally self-released in 2004 under the alias Phynix. It’s an idiosyncratic mélange of arty folk, exotic electronica, ethereal soul, and operatic vocals. I’m not saying BGC should be as big as Kate Bush or Björk, but his work is in the vicinity of their nuanced agglomerations of skewed songcraft and production.
“In the Image” begins, shockingly, with a sample of that very famous breakbeat from Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache.” As it’s one of my favorite breaks of all time, the song had me hooked from the jump. Thankfully, BGC has built a lovely, radiant song around that deeply funky, bongo-heavy beat while singing like a church-dwelling angel. BGC unveils a melody of stained-glass majesty throughout this rollicking R&B/gospel/New Age hybrid; the result is a one-of-a-kind, sanctified club banger.
