Liz Cooper & The Stampede’s new album “Window Flowers” now streaming at NPR Music; out 8/10
Liz Cooper & The Stampede’s anticipated debut full-length album, Window Flowers, is now streaming as part of NPR Music’s “First Listen” series. Listen here. Of the album, NPR Music calls it, “…a gorgeously arranged and performed bouquet of psychedelia-tinged folk-rock,” furthering, “…to draw a line from Window Flowers to any period of rock and roll, it would be that of the Paisley Underground and bands like The Dream Syndicate, where beautiful and languid psychedelia met moody folk and rock based songs. Cooper taps into this and more on her debut, wrapping her reverbed vocals in swirling, warm echoes of sound and nuanced musical lushness thanks to the addition of keyboards, pedal steel, a glockenspiel here and a banjo there.”
Out next Friday, August 10, on the band’s own label, Sleepyhead Records, via Thirty Tigers, the album is now available for pre-order, which includes immediate downloads of three of the album’s tracks: “Fondly & Forever,” “Hey Man” and “Mountain Man.”
Window Flowers is already receiving widespread critical acclaim…
“A nugget of 50-years-late-breaking psychedelia out of Nashville, ‘Hey Man’ circles through four chords and flaunts a distorted guitar hook, jazzy drumming and an elaborate but transparent throng of voices and guitars behind Liz Cooper’s straightforward
come-on.”—The New York Times
come-on.”—The New York Times
“Atmospheric folk-rock with psychedelic flourishes.”
“‘Mountain Man’, with its Fleet Foxes-esque vocal harmonies and delicate acoustic guitar, is captivating enough on its own, but its VR-themed music video is not
to be missed.”—Rolling Stone
“‘Mountain Man’, with its Fleet Foxes-esque vocal harmonies and delicate acoustic guitar, is captivating enough on its own, but its VR-themed music video is not
to be missed.”—Rolling Stone
“The track has that rare quality that allows it to appropriately soundtrack both a packed theater and an empty dive bar.”—Billboard
“Liz Cooper & The Stampede are one of the finest folk rock bands that we have…Cooper has a one-of-a-kind voice…it’s distinctive, emotive, and thoroughly engaging, drawing you right into the song like a massive welcome mat. The group’s music might best be described as cosmic, psychedelic folk rock, but whatever it is, it’s 100% irresistible.”—PopMatters
“[Cooper] is a charismatic frontwoman and a world-class guitarist…[they] have developed a method of navigating between earthy roots music and raucous psychedelic blues with jammy tendencies that comes off feeling intentional and engaging”—Nashville Scene
In celebration of the release, the band is currently on tour including newly confirmed fall dates supporting Phosphorescent. These shows follow the band’s busiest touring year to-date, which featured performances with Houndmouth, Lord Huron, Deer Tick, Rayland Baxter, Ron Gallo and Blitzen Trapper. See below for full tour details.
Recorded at Welcome to 1979 in Nashville with co-production from TJ Elias, Window Flowers is the culmination of a yearlong dedication in which Cooper pushed herself to spend every single day creating in at least one medium and saying “yes” to everything she was asked to do. Of the recording, Cooper reflects, “Our first time working with an outside producer and our first time in a proper recording studio was when we recorded Window Flowers. TJ Elias’ mad scientist ideas, an abundance of hot dogs, and lack of sunlight pushed us outside of our comfort zones to work more cohesively as a unit than we ever had before.” Joined in the studio by bassist Grant Prettyman and special guests Leah Blevins, Will Brown, Steve Dawson, Emily Kohavi, Michael and Ben Ford and Gianni Gibso, the new album follows Cooper’s earlier self-released EPs—Monsters (2014) and Live at the Silent Planet (2016). Alongside Cooper, “The Stampede” consists of Prettyman and drummer Ryan Usher.
Photo credit: Shervin Lainez
Already known in Nashville for their electric live shows, Liz Cooper & The Stampede experienced their first breakthrough in 2016 with the release of their Audiotree Live session, which has attracted over 220,000 views on YouTube, and over 1,000,000 streams on Spotify. Additionally, the band placed as one of NPR Music’s runners-up during their 2016 Tiny Desk Contest. Of the submission, NPR Music’s Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey hailed, “‘Mountain Man’ is a catchy, simple love song written with the clarity of a good cut of Nashville country. Liz Cooper guides the song with her percussive, fingerpicked guitar and her crackling voice…a seamless balance of muted rhythmic sounds and propulsive drive that feels so good…It sounds like a car whirring past a field of trees, the light shining through.”
Cooper grew up in Baltimore, MD later attending Towson University on a full athletic scholarship for golf, but after her freshmen year left to pursue a musician’s path in Nashville. It was there that she discovered her sound and singular voice through a new creative community, which includes the likes of Ron Gallo, Rayland Baxter, Okey Dokey, Erin Rae, Cage the Elephant, The Weeks, The Wild Feathers, Jamestown Revival, Desert Noises, Future Thieves and Caroline Rose.
WINDOW FLOWERS TRACK LIST
1. Sleepyhead
2. The Night
3. Outer Space
4. Mountain Main
5. Kaleidoscope Eyes
6. Dalai Lama
7. Motions
8. Fondly & Forever
9. Lights
10. Hey Man
11. Walls of White
2. The Night
3. Outer Space
4. Mountain Main
5. Kaleidoscope Eyes
6. Dalai Lama
7. Motions
8. Fondly & Forever
9. Lights
10. Hey Man
11. Walls of White
LIZ COOPER & THE STAMPEDE TOUR DATES
August 18—Columbia, MO—Fortune Fest
August 24—Fishers, IN—Nickel Plate Amphitheater*
August 26—Evanston, IL—Out of SPACE: Big Evanston Block Party
August 26—Evanston, IL—Out of SPACE: Big Evanston Block Party
August 28—Athens, GA—Georgia Theatre†
August 29—Savannah, GA—B&D Beer Garden†
August 30—Asheville, NC—The Orange Peel†
August 31—Charlotte, NC—Neighborhood Theatre†
September 1—Charleston, SC—Charleston Music Hall†
September 9—St. Louis, MO—LouFest
September 20—Nashville, TN—Musician’s Corner
November 8—New Orleans, LA—One Eyed Jacks‡
November 8—New Orleans, LA—One Eyed Jacks‡
November 9—Austin, TX—Emo’s‡
November 10—Dallas, TX—Granada Theater‡
November 12—Phoenix, AZ—Crescent Ballroom‡
November 14—Santa Ana, CA—Observatory OC‡
November 15—Los Angeles, CA—Belasco Theatre‡
November 17—San Francisco, CA—The Fillmore‡
November 21—Seattle, WA—Neptune‡
November 24—Denver, CO—The Oriental Theatre‡
November 26—Lawrence, KS—Granada Theater‡
November 27—St. Louis, MO—The Ready Room‡
November 29—Madison, WI—Majestic Theatre‡
November 30—Chicago, IL—Vic Theatre‡
December 1—Minneapolis, MN—First Avenue‡
December 2—Milwaukee, WI—Turner Hall Ballroom‡
December 4—Detroit, MI—Saint Andrew’s Hall‡
December 5—Columbus, OH—Newport Music Hall‡
December 6—Toronto, ON—Mod Club‡
December 7—Northampton, MA—Pearl Street‡
December 8—Boston, MA—Royale‡
December 11—Washington, DC—9:30 Club‡
December 13—Brooklyn, NY—Brooklyn Steel ‡
December 14—Philadelphia, PA—Theatre of The Living Arts‡
*with Houndmouth and Mt. Joy
†with Houndmouth
‡with Phosphorescent
†with Houndmouth
‡with Phosphorescent
