Stream: Radical Face, ‘Reveries’

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Radical Face (Photo by Roy Berry)

Under the name Radical Face, Florida native Ben Cooper has been weaving mesmerizing tales since the mid-2000s. Most notable was last decade’s album trilogy “The Family Tree,” an opus of orchestrated folk music telling the story of a fictional family, the Northcotes — songs that were powerful allegories, powerfully told.

The album that launched the music career of the onetime aspiring pro skateboarder, though, was 2007’s “Ghost.” It was made in a tool shed in Cooper’s backyard and became a cult classic, and last October brought the release of the deluxe edition, complete with orchestral versions.

But since Radical Face last performed in Los Angeles in 2016, Cooper has been more about letting go of the past, especially the daunting task of adhering to his concept albums. He released an album of instrumental music in 2018 and last year followed with the EP “Therapy,” meditations inspired by the professional help he sought to help him move on creatively.

Radical Face’s new song “Reveries” is an outlier — a standalone single that narrates the heartbreak of a disintegrating relationship. “Whenever I am working on a record, I always stumble onto songs that I like as individuals but don’t work for the larger concept. Something about the mood, the lyrics or the production makes it an odd fit,” he says. “In the past, I would stop working on those songs once I recognized this, or I’d finish the recording and just shelve it. I’ve decided to go about it differently this time and just release them as singles along the way.

“And as for the track itself … it’s about people that don’t quite fit together anymore, but there’s no anger or resentment in it. It’s a drifting apart, not a breakup. And while you still care about each other in your ways, it’s time to move on, and neither party owes the other anything.”

Radical Face is in the middle of a North American tour celebrating the deluxe edition of “Ghost,” and there are three Southern California dates this week.

||| Stream: “Reveries”

||| Also: Stream 2019’s “Therapy” EP

||| Live: Radical Face plays Wednesday (tickets) and Thursday (tickets) at the Troubadour, with Axel Flóvent opening. He also plays Saturday night at the Glass House (tickets).