Rooms of the Magnificent

If Ed Kuepper’s debut solo album, Electrical Storm, was a stripped-back affair, on Rooms Of The Magnificent he starts to stretch out again, bringing piano and brass back into his arrangements, and inviting guest vocalist, Melanie Oxley, to join in for many of the songs. It’s brighter, more direct, the songs closer to pop, but still with the slightly acidic tang that’s characteristic of Kuepper’s writing. It features some of his loveliest material, like the woozy, blissed-out “Sea Air”, and the folksy reel of “I Am Your Prince”. He’s invited some members of his previous group, Laughing Clowns, back into the fray, too, and their presence enlivens Rooms Of The Magnificent. He’d make better albums still, but there’s something definitive about this one.