“Cope” by Scott Tees - The Warmth of Cold Days

“Cope” - A cuddly, post-rock sound that helps the listener to feel a kind of warmth even when the winter season of the heart is gone.

Scotts Tees is an indie, folk and post-rock solo artist from Edmonton, Canada, whose music is characterised by the fusion of three genres. Among other things, he is inspired by the rich and earthy folk of Bon Iver, the warm and intimate Iron and Wine, and the Smashing Pumpkins shoegaze influenced hard rock, from which he took only the rawness. He is known for his method of "lived-in" sound, whereby he does the initial recording session of the tracks in his studio on an old multitrack recorder and then does the mixing digitally. The combination of analogue warmth and modern clarity gives him the possibility to be very different emotionally in his works and also in genre, from alt-rock with some momentum to just quiet, winter, driven, introspective pieces.

Cope is a quiet, emotionally immersive song that portrays the heaviness of winter and the silent strength it calls for.

It is covered in fuzzy guitar riffs and glassy bass lines. The piece gradually unfolds, thus providing a refuge for reflection and vulnerability. Scott's Tees' dragging, sincere vocal lines can be compared to one breath in the cold air; they go through the mix and thus convey the themes of breakup, introspection, and emotional survival. The post, rock and shoegaze-influenced sounds are calm but weighted, like a warm jacket protecting you from the cold. The production is very warm and real, thus making the listening experience very intimate. Cope is not hurriedly directed towards resolution; rather, it inhabits the presence of uneasiness, and thus, it is gently comforting, making the piece profoundly relatable to anyone who is going through an emotional winter of their own.