Review: Joachim Cooder – Dreamer’s Motel
Joachim Cooder – Dreamer’s Motel
Format: CD – Digital / Lebel: Temple Of Leaves
Release: 2024
Text: Tom Wouters
Joachim Cooder, the son of Ry Cooder, initially gained fame as a drummer in his father’s band. He played a role in the revival of the Buena Vista Social Club from Cuba, conducted by his father.
In 2020, Joachim Cooder made his first appearance as a storyteller with the album ‘Over That Road I’m Bound,’ an album in which he rescued the songs of American vaudeville artist Uncle Dave Mason from oblivion. On that album, percussionist Joachim Cooder had adopted the African thumb piano, the mbira, as his main instrument.
And that instrument plays a major role on Cooder’s latest album ‘Dreamer’s Motel.’ From the opening track, the title song Dreamer’s Motel, Joachim takes us on a journey to days of lingering sweetness and promise in an African-sounding song.
In Sight And The Sound he mixes Californian harmony vocals with an African rhythm suggested by the mbira. And with that a new element in Cooder’s sound is immediately mentioned, he makes frequent use of harmony vocals à la The Beach Boys and The Mamas And Papas.
This can also be heard in Godspeed Little Children Of Fort Smith, Arkansas, which musically revives the America from the 18th century, the time of the outlaws like Jesse James. Cool Little Lion is the storyteller par excellence that Joachim Cooder is in a tender lullaby.
Let Me See My Brother Walk is a beautiful gospel song with banjo playing by father Ry, after which the last two tracks take a more psychedelic approach. Sea Level Man is a slightly psychedelic rock song, but in the closing, mantra-sung Down To The Blood, as the title suggests Cooder really gets to the point. The track sounds like Captain Beefheart meets Dr. John The Nighttripper, psychedelic folk meets Voodoo Cajun music.
With Dreamer’s Motel, storyteller Joachim Cooder offers an intriguing sonic journey to a stratosphere with visions of hope that lives in dreams and memories.
Tracks:
01. Dreamer’s Motel
02. Sight And The Sound
03. Godspeed Little Children Of Fort Smith, Arkansas
04. Cool Little Lion
05. Let Me See My Brother Walk
06. Sea Level Man
07. Down To The Blood
Website: https://www.joachimcooder.com/