Meeting the love of your life is a transformative experience. This life-changing feeling —and all of the changes that come with it —is what Australian indie-pop singer-songwriter Hein Cooper explores on his EP Turbulent Heart which is released today via Nettwerk Records.
Recording the EP with producer Jarryd Shuker in Montreal, where Cooper also met his wife, the multi-instrumentalist has reached a place where he’s ready to share every aspect of his being with another person. By doing that, he’s able to be more purposeful and intentional in his everyday life. By being true to someone else, he can be more faithful to himself.
Hein Cooper gave us insight into each track on his Turbulent Heart EP and explained how it all came to be.
Turbulent Heart
This was one of the last songs to be added to the record. I was on a plane from somewhere to somewhere at some point and freaked out over some turbulence and thought ‘turbulent heart’ was a good name for a song. I had it there in my iPhone notes for a while before I knew where to go with it. It’s basically a celebration of getting through struggles together and helping each other out when you’re feeling down.
In this case I’m talking about all the help my partner has given me (especially during the production of the album when I was going through some difficulties and shifts in my life). I was also reading Huckleberry Finn at the time hence the lyrics in verse 1! Also an honourable mention to the Queen of Soul ‘Aretha Franklin’, who both my partner and I adore and listened too a lot together at the time I was writing this song.
Check out the clip for ‘Turbulent Heart’ from Hein Cooper:
Pretend
This song reminds me of the colour purple, it’s got references to aliens and is all about escaping this world. I picture two lovers getting abducted by a spaceship and heading on a journey through their craziest dreams. It’s meant to be an out of world experience to who knows where.
Watch the clip for ‘Pretend’:
Stream Turbulent Heart by Hein Cooper:
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Sandstorm
I had just watched The English Patient when I wrote this one. In the film there’s an intense moment where a sandstorm comes over in the desert and things get real. It follows the story of two lovers and it’s absolutely beautiful and tragic at the same time.
I took the story in a new direction and made the sandstorm theme about endless thoughts plaguing the mind and releasing them. It’s a deep song kind of similar to ‘The Alchemist’ and his search for meaning.
Check out Hein Cooper performing ‘Sandstorm’:
Our Time
This is one of the last additions to the record. I wrote the chords and melody in 2017 in Paris with some friends but had no idea where to go with it until earlier this year. I was hearing a lot of music on the radio saying things like: ‘You can’t hurt me’, ‘I’m already numb’ and the usual self destructive words of a culture that’s clearly suffering and given up on itself in a way.
I felt inspired to write a response saying something like ‘get yourselves together and rise up to the challenge’ of finding meaning and happiness in today’s world.
Higher
This song is a celebration of partnership through hard times. No matter what comes at us we’ll stick together.
