Where Spirit Meets Bone has a futuristic/dystopian theme going on with Coping Method acting as a mysterious, shady organization.
The songs being ‘exercises’, the album being the ‘curriculum’ and the members being instructors. There’s a lot of thought that went into the overarching lore surrounding the band and the record. Guitarist Jed explains at its core; the record is about wanting to take action to better your circumstances.
In the first part of the record we have the exhilarating single Hypomania, which has a dark electronic vibe to it. It’s almost even got a dance vibe to it’s instrumental, having a steady electronic bass drum to keep the pace throughout the runtime. This one has a lot of variety packed into it as well, at moments it’s bouncy, but it’s also got some industrial thrown into the mix as well.
Moving onto Underground, we’re already a nice change of pace early in the record. This one starts off with an eerie synth and slow rhythm part before taking a step back allowing for vocalist Tyler and drummer Chad to take the spotlight. The chorus comes in and it almost reminds me of Resolve in a way, which is a massive compliment. It’s a big chorus as Tyler sings “fall, don’t fall away from me” and the sparkling synths behind him add a beautiful texture to the song. This cut on the record is definitely one that instantly stood out to me on first listen.
Moving onto the second half of the record is interlude EMPTYEYES and Closing in (feat. REEBZ). We see the band really honing into the electronic influences at this point in the track list. EMPTYEYES sounds like something you’d have playing when you’re cruising around in Night City, it’s such a great vibe and pallet cleanser here.
Closing In keeps that vibe going, with lots of heavy synths for the main melody. Tyler even has a vocoder vibe with his vocals in the verses. REEBZ is also utilized beautifully on the track, being incorporated into the main hook on the chorus as well as having her own sections in the second verse. It’s nice to see a feature who has a spotlight throughout majority of the song.
To close out the record we have Immunogen, which picks up the pace to finish strong. This one accumulates all the sounds on the record beautifully. What I enjoy most about this song is the structure of it; It has its heavy moments, but when we get to the bridge it cuts out to a beautiful and airy section before coming back in with a very epic sounding conclusion.
Where Spirit Meets Bone is a quality debut for a band who hasn’t been in the scene too long. As I stated above, they really only had one EP and a few singles before starting to rollout this record and the difference really is night and day.
With the world building and interludes, it can be difficult to maintain the pacing of a record but Coping Method do it beautifully here. Though the cyberpunk vibe isn’t inherently unique in 2024; I will say this record is without a doubt, a great example of it. If the band are able to continue to tighten up and evolve upon their sound into something that can differentiate them a bit more from the pack, I think that’d take them to the next level.
7.5/10
Where Spirit Meets Bone is out now through FiXT Music.