Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter in Summer

Sometimes biographical detail can ultimately distract when writing about new records, but for Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s latest it feels unavoidable. Glenn-Copeland had been putting out brilliant records to minimal notice since the early seventies, but a decade or so ago saw an unexpected explosion of interest; touring, tribute records and documentaries followed as he finally received the recognition his music had always deserved. Then in 2024 he was diagnosed with dementia, but, against doctor’s suggestions and along with their romantic and creative partner Elizabeth, it was decided the best course of action was a world tour.

Laughter in Summer is a record born of that tour; new songs and old ones refracted through their live incarnations, and what that refraction amounts to is devastating emotional immediacy. Take Harbour, already a naked declaration of love, but duetted with Elizabeth in this context it’s devastating. The whole record contains this sense of purity, the songs sitting somewhere between hymns and nursery rhymes, not just in their simplicity but in the sense they seem to have always existed.

Tonally though they are optimistic, Glenn-Copeland looking toward a life beyond himself and into a hopeful future, trying to give everything he can before it’s too late. It’s never more clear than on the gorgeous Let Us Dance (Movement Two), a looser, more communal take on the album’s opener. This more than anything communicates the album’s joys; a kind of unencumbered appreciation of life and love.

Listen to: Laughter in Summer, Let Us Dance (Movement Two), Middle Island Lament