After the last tour in May I had a few things to finish before taking some time off to enjoy the summer here in Sweden.
A few months ago I become involved in scoring the soundtrack for the documentary film ‘A Vision For Vision’. It was my tour manager Tom Povey who made the connection with the production company in New York. He sent producer Wayne Chesler some of my instrumentals and he was interested enough to listen through all my albums and asked me to provide all the music for the film. It started with some remixes of bits of previously recorded material and eventually I was asked to write some new music too. All done in my studio here in Sweden from a Zoom call and a few short emails. I particularly appreciated that I was given only the barest of instructions and had the freedom to be creative.
On the soundtrack I played most of the instruments in my studio: cello, mandolin, kantele, piano, electric piano, harmonium, harmonica, drum, xaio, bass guitar and guitar. The xaio, which is a kind of Chinese flute, turned out to be the star of the show, at least to me. Even though I can hardly play it, a few notes can be very effective, the sound is perfect for this kind of work and I used it on one of the most interesting pieces in the film, an animation story.
After finishing the film music, I was off to the island of Gotland in the Baltic for some spiritual refreshment. Over the summer I was involved in a few concerts of Swedish folk music and made some plans for the autumn and for next year. Summer is nearly over here, but it is still nice to take an early morning swim in the nearby lake, it is the best way to start the day. This morning the water was like a mirror and a low mist hung over the surface; the swans on the far side took no notice of me as I dove in.
I have two tours coming up now in Germany and England as well as some guest appearances.
There will soon be an announcement about a new touring project which will keep me on the road for most of next year. My solo tours next year will be in the autumn.
Meanwhile, here are the upcoming dates:
More details on the Live Dates page https://www.raycooper.org/shows/
2025
September Germany
17 Flensburg Werfcafé
19 Winsen Tidenhub
20 Bad Bentheim Treff 10
21 Riedstadt Büchner Bühne
22 Mitlechtern Alter Tanzsaal
24 Halberstadt house concert
26 Schloss Goseck
27 Rotta / Gassmühle
28 Buchhagen, Kulturmühle
October
2 Guben house concert
5 Lübbecke house concert
November UK tour
5 Eastbourne The Lamb
7 Leamington Spa Temperance with Benji Kirkpatrick
8 Beccles Canopy Theatre
9 London The Harrison
11 Manchester Band on the Wall Copper Bar
12 York Fortyfive Vinyl Café with White Sail
14 Derby Dubrek
15 Netley Chapel Sessions
16 Stroud Prince Albert
22 Presteigne Assembly Rooms
23 Sheffield Café 9
Photos Kerstin Maier