Playing with Water marks the moment when it turns scary. Something irreparable has been torn; you could listen to Mike Cooper albums casually until now.

Mike Cooper is a treasure of underground music.

It’s not “Southern gothic” but Tropical Gothic.

Mike Cooper sells his music as exotica, which is either a knowing joke or a springboard for an active subversion.

[xrr rating=4.25/5]A Wikipedia search for the name “Mike Cooper” turns up entries on a Canadian politician, a rugby player and a British photographer, but none on the neglected avant-folk musician who made some killer albums at the dawn of the 1970s. It is somewhat surprising that a man who came close to joining the Rolling Stones has existed in such …