Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to boil one kettle, and let one cup of tea steep, we will have your daily art + music fix covered. Take your afternoon tea break with our Afternoon Tea curators.
Today’s tea + soundtrack + visuals curated by Les Cooper.
Toronto-based producer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter Les Cooper is sharing the deluxe edition of his recent solo record, Noise, featuring an Americana-inflected appearance with Jill Barber entitled “In The Morning.”
The deeply melodic piece of music incorporates lap steel guitar, rich harmonies from Cooper and Barber, as well as gentle acoustic playing. The song finds Cooper and Barber inhabiting the roles of a couple who still love each other yet are in a relationship that’s breaking down.
I’m tired of all this talking, I just need to close my eyes, I just need to lie beside you for a while.
MUSIC
I’m listening to a track called Flight from the City from the album Orphée by Jóhann Jóhannsson. Jóhann is known mostly for his film composing work (he did a number of films with Dennis Villeneuve including Arrival, Sicario and Prisoners.) but he had an incredible collection of solo and ensemble albums.
There are few things that I can listen to where I get completely lost. I am guilty of getting caught up in analyzing music when I listen which is something that many producers that I speak to mirror. This track – and this entire album – floats over me. There’s something about this piece that feels whole, and complete. It’s like a drug for me.
VISUAL
I’m watching “Her Ghost” by MFO (Marcel Webber). I first saw MFO’s work during a live performance by Tim Hecker at the UNSOUND festival in Toronto. Look him up on VIMEO. His work is both meditative and startling to watch. “Her Ghost” is a re-imagining and collage from a film by Chris Marker called La Jetee.
TEA
I’m drinking Pukka brand chamomile, vanilla and & manuka honey tea. This stuff got me through a rough bout of COVID last year and always seems to calm me. I add some honey and cayenne to it. I go into a bit of a panic when I run out of this stuff.
Tea + Me 