Laughter in Summer is a whisper of an album. It feels like the embrace of a warm summer day, a wispy dalliance with joy. However, the origins of the record stem from news that would push most into darkness.
In 2024, musician and trans activist Beverly Glenn-Copeland revealed he had been diagnosed with dementia. Rather than look at it as a death sentence, Glenn-Copeland released a joint statement with his wife Elizabeth that said, “We want to challenge the mainstream image of this illness, which focuses on loss. We are actively asking the universe to show us where the life is here.” Laughter in Summer more than lives up to that mission.
Now 82 years old, Glenn-Copeland’s journey to cultural rediscovery was a circuitous one. He released a pair of overlooked folk albums in the early ’70s, but a mid-2010s rediscovery of his 1986 privately pressed new age record Keyboard Fantasies introduced the American-born Canadian musician to a larger and more voracious fanbase. In 2023, Glenn-Copeland released the vulnerably beautiful The Ones Ahead, his first record of new material in more than 20 years, to rapturous reviews.
Laughter in Summer emerged as a happy accident. The couple was invited by producer Howard Bilerman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Vic Chesnutt) to record songs from their recent tour at Hotel2Tango in Montreal. Accompanied by their musical director Alex Samaras on piano (along with occasional support from a choir and Naomi McCarroll-Butler on clarinet), Laughter in Summer feels like an insular love letter between lifelong partners. Unlike The Ones Ahead, Glenn-Copeland sometimes exists on the margins of the album with Elizabeth taking lead on many tracks such as “Children’s Anthem,” one song written years ago for a teachers’ workshop on bullying.
All nine tracks on Laughter in Summer were recorded in one take, making it difficult to forget that these are ethereal songs about time running short. Yet the very process of recording creates memories. Many of the songs feel like reminiscences of intimacy between the couple. They even do a cover of “Shenandoah,” a cry for time faded away if there ever was one.
But Glenn-Copeland’s love for Elizabeth will be forever minted on Laughter in Summer even as his memory recedes. Among the many highlights here is “Harbour (Song for Elizabeth),” a song he wrote as a birthday gift for his wife. And within that song is one thing time cannot take away: Glenn-Copeland’s rich voice. It has been with us for decades, floating just beyond the reach of the mainstream. Laughter in Summer ensures that it will always be there.
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