With the release of his sophomore full-length album, 'Underneath It All', Australian expat singer-songwriter Hein Cooper says he's been having the best year of his life so far.
“I remember at the beginning of the year writing down that I truly felt like in my own personal life and in everything to do with me that there was going to be a lot of growth this year, and I felt like it was going to be a good year right from the start,” Hein says.
Hein released 'Underneath It All' in mid-June, three years after his debut album 'The Art Of Escape'. Between records, Hein busied himself with honing his craft, playing countless shows and supporting the likes of James Bay and Lukas Graham.
“I'd done the first record and all of sudden it was like 'okay, I'm a musician so I suppose I have to go and play it live now', to build an audience and make this more of a thing. Also, just to figure out my show and how to do that because that's a whole different thing to recording an album.
“So I went off to Europe and I booked a bunch of festivals and I played all these shows; basically drove around Europe... it was me alone at times or me with a friend helping me drive and with my equipment, but a lot of the time I was alone [and] I was in a completely different country.
"Even in Australia, a lot of the time it was me surrounded by people but always different people, and I did go through a lot of emotions and I was confronted by that loneliness.”
It was on this epic journey that Hein found the basis for the songs that would soon become his next album. “I had a lot of time to think, live my life and see all these different parts of the world that aren't as lucky as we are in Australia, and I feel like that was the beginning of the new songs.
"That was where I felt like this underlying theme was coming out, which was different to the first album,” he says.
“I was yearning for connection, I was yearning for something real around me, not the level of connection I was getting from everyone, meeting them for a day and hanging out; I was looking for someone to really talk to. I can hear it in the songs now, most of them are coming from that place.”
Now based in Montreal where he says he can indulge his creativity without distraction, Hein will be back in Australia for his 'Underneath It All' album tour following a performance at Bello Winter Music Festival (NSW) in July.
“I'm really excited to come back home and also to spend a little bit of time in between the shows just being in Australia, seeing my family and going surfing in the ocean, because I don't get to do that in Montreal. It's going to be really nice to play all these new songs for Australia, it'll be good.”
'Underneath It All' is out now. Hein Cooper plays Bello Winter Music Festival (Bellingen) 12-14 July.
Hein Cooper 2019 Tour Dates
Sat 3 Aug - Milton Theatre (NSW)Thu 8 Aug - Cambridge Warehouse (Newcastle)
Fri 9 Aug - The Lansdowne (Sydney)
Sat 10 Aug - The Basement (Canberra)
Fri 16 Aug - Black Bear Lodge (Brisbane)
Sat 17 Aug - Kingscliff Beach Hotel (NSW)
Fri 23 Aug - Mojos (Fremantle)
Sat 24 Aug - Prince Of Wales (Bunbury)
Sun 25 Aug - Clancy's Fish Pub (Dunsborough)
Thu 29 Aug - Grace Emily Hotel (Adelaide)
Fri 30 Aug - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)
