Inspired by La Nina downpours, a lifelong mentorship with Ulladulla / Yuin elder Uncle Noel Butler & a mid-pandemic writing session with Rene Le Feuvre, Hein Cooper has returned with ‘The Weatherman’, an emotive and captivating track questioning a societal disconnect from nature, alongside a lack of understanding for those who hold the wisdom of thousands of years prior.
Written in July of 2021, during an abnormal amount of rainfall, Hein Cooper felt compelled to introduce the track to Uncle Noel Butler, the Yuin Elder who had mentored Hein & his brother during their adolescence.
Inviting the four winds to rise at the song’s beginning, Uncle Noel collaborated to also record Didgeridoo within ‘The Weatherman’, creating a thematic understanding that the song was now ‘us’ – a combination of all its contributors and not just one belonging to Cooper.
With encouragement from Trish Butler (Noel’s wife), Hein Cooper was successful in receiving a South Coast Grant to assist the community in processing the recent rain and pandemic events.
Over 4 days, various members of the Ulladulla & South Coast community joined Hein Cooper to write songs, as catharsis. The project culminated in the group offering their voices to sign on The Weatherman, broadening the contribution and effect of Noel Butler’s ‘us’ even further. With ambient background noise also collected from The Badawang Hills, both Yuin flora & fauna also contributed to the final piece. Hein Cooper remained local for all recording too, working out of Ulladulla’s Studio 5, with Jackson Barclay (Vera Blue, Winderbourne) & George Georgiadis (The Vanns, Gang of Youths) handling mixing & mastering.
“Who is the weatherman? This is the deep question behind the song…Is it the one who’s paid big bucks by large companies to read off a script? Or is it he who feels into nature, into the forest, the wind and the water, the animals and plants? I believe nature has all of the answers to our current issues, and this song is a mantra to tap into those secrets, especially through the indigenous knowledge carried by elders still willing to share” Hein Cooper
“(The song’s introduction) is asking for help, for the creator to send a wind spirit, to bring the different winds from the different directions. The North-East; can you bring the wind? From the North; bring the wind. From the West: only bring a little bit as it can be nasty – the fighting man’s wind. This song is about understanding what’s been given to you, understanding what’s called nature – it’s all there, the answers are all around us, even the weather.” Noel Butler
HEIN COOPER ‘THE WEATHERMAN’ SINGLE LAUNCH
Tickets available via: heincooper.com
Friday, December 23rd Barn On The Ridge Morton, NSW
With special guests: Ben Morgan & Jack Willis