Album Review: Journey to Sobriety

Samuel Philip Cooper sits on the brink of social media stardom, with videos of his belting out pop music piano covers from behind a pair of thick spectacles racking up views and likes on Insta.

Little do any of the mindless doom scrollers swiping through his reels know, but percolating behind his eye brows is the very key to their very salvation.

I mean not quite…

Journey to Sobriety is about Cooper’s own road to recovery, and by it could inspire people to make a change that could help them in their own travels… So maybe less a key to salvation, more a street sign mapping the general direction of the other end of the tunnel.

While it may be a soundtrack to just one man’s personal journey from darkness to light, but it’s a journey that is relatable to many. As with all Cooper’s releases, the theme is one of triumph over adversity, leaning specifically towards mental health, the awareness of which Samuel is a champion of.

SPC, if I may call them that, has a real talent of translating emotion into sound. With their distinct lack of vocals these ten tracks are less songs, and more moods, movements, or vibes. Well, less vibes, and more feels, because right in the feels are where they hit you.

Taken as a whole, the album is the feeling of those 3 days of summer following the 11 months of Wellington wind and rain, splashed across the keys. Taken in their parts, each track fits with the title, as if Cooper planned the journey and made the music around it, rather than making music and deciding the theme afterwards.

Adult contemporary solo piano albums are quite the niche market, and perhaps a market too classy for me. There’s no doubt though, even through a layman’s ears, that Samuel Philip Cooper is a talented pianist and this is a piece of art worth a listen (and perhaps a cry during some of the darker movements).

You can find Journey to Sobriety on Spotify.

Five of five stars.