Rainwater

The title of Citizen Cope’s fifth album, One Lovely Day, is fitting – if your idea of a lovely day is one spent wrapped up in a blanket while the world outside rages on. The record doesn’t stray too far from Cope’s sound (his deep, sandpaper voice over slow blues/ soul incantations with the slight swirl of hip-hop flourishes), but One Lovely Day may be his most meditative release yet. None of the tracks speed up beyond a crawl; Cope keeps his grooves steady like he’s stirring a slow boiling stew. In the blues march “DFW,” Cope “has to say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye to my baby today,” and in the title track, he imagines a place “where there’s time for you and I.” The sentiments and sounds are sincere, but without enough solid hooks or pace changes, One Lovely Day simply floats on by.