Beverly Glenn-Copeland - The Ones Ahead (LP)

Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s return to the studio with The Ones Ahead feels like a small miracle that took its time arriving. Released in July 2023 on Transgressive, it’s his first new studio album in nearly two decades, and it carries the patience and clarity of someone who has lived a few lifetimes in music. The long arc of Glenn-Copeland’s story, from the cult rediscovery of Keyboard Fantasies to a late-career embrace by audiences worldwide, is already the stuff of legend. This record turns that momentum into something grounded, communal and present, the sound of an artist who knows exactly why he’s singing and who he’s singing for.

The album opens its arms with a generosity that’s hard to fake. His voice has weathered beautifully, warm and unhurried, and he surrounds it with a band that understands space. Glenn-Copeland’s touring group, Indigo Rising, breathe with him, letting songs bloom rather than pushing them along. You hear it in the way the percussion sits under “Africa Calling,” where hand drums and layered vocals turn a simple refrain into a summons. The track moves like a procession, not flashy, just steady and insistent, evoking the pull of ancestry without leaning on cliché. It’s one of those songs that makes you sit up straighter.

“Harbour (Song for Elizabeth)” is an immediate standout and a reminder of his gift for tenderness. The dedication is right there in the title, and the performance is intimate without slipping into sentimentality. Piano, brushed drums, a ripple of guitar, and that voice, calm but bright with feeling. Glenn-Copeland has always been good at writing songs that feel like places, and “Harbour” is exactly that, a quiet cove where you can set your bags down. It’s the kind of track you play for a friend who thinks they’ve heard everything.

What’s striking about The Ones Ahead is how confidently it blends forms. He folds folk, jazz and gospel inflections into contemporary arrangements that keep the songs light on their feet. Nothing is cluttered. Synth pads glow at the edges, horns slip in and out, and the harmonies feel lived-in. You can tell these pieces have been tested on the road, then treated with care in the studio rather than buffed into something anonymous. The writing leans toward survival and community, not as slogans but as daily practice. That thread runs through his earlier work too, though here it’s set with the calm resolve of someone who’s seen enough to choose joy on purpose.

By now Glenn-Copeland’s renaissance is a matter of public record, and it’s lovely to hear that story push forward rather than look back. After years of attention on Keyboard Fantasies, he could have given us a companion piece to the ambient minimalism of the eighties recordings. Instead, this album feels closer to a gathering, a circle of players and listeners facing one another. It has that spiritual charge without the trappings, the kind that makes strangers smile to themselves on the tram.

Critics noticed, and rightly so. The Ones Ahead was warmly received by outlets like The Guardian and Pitchfork, but you don’t need pull quotes to feel the care in these arrangements. Listen to the way the rhythm section locks in and then eases off at just the right moment, or how a choir line enters like a door opening. There’s craft everywhere, though it never elbows its way to the front.

If you’re a crate-digger, here’s the practical bit. The Ones Ahead vinyl on Transgressive is a lovely way to live with these songs, and it sits neatly alongside the rest of the Beverly Glenn-Copeland albums on vinyl that have been reissued in recent years. If you’re hunting for Beverly Glenn-Copeland vinyl, this one deserves a spot, both for the music and for what it represents in his catalogue. Pop into your favourite Melbourne record store and you might catch a staffer putting it in the listening pile next to Keyboard Fantasies, or you can buy Beverly Glenn-Copeland records online if you’ve already spent too long flipping through crates. However you get there, it’s worth it, and it’s the kind of record that nudges you to tidy the stereo, make a cup of tea, and really sit.

Albums like this remind you why vinyl records still matter in Australia where that ritual is alive and well. The grooves hold more than sound, they hold a sense of time passing with purpose. The Ones Ahead doesn’t chase trends or lean on nostalgia, it trusts the song and the room. In a year crowded with big statements, Glenn-Copeland chose something braver, a clear voice, a patient band, and an open invitation to join in.