"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 is a whispery, warm album that embraces joy despite emerging from a dementia diagnosis received in 2024. Beverly Glenn-Copeland and his wife Elizabeth issued a joint statement challenging the mainstream image of dementia and asking the universe to reveal where life remains. The record follows a later-life rediscovery that began with the mid-2010s revival of Keyboard Fantasies and the 2023 release of The Ones Ahead. Recorded live at Hotel2Tango with producer Howard Bilerman, musical director Alex Samaras, occasional choir support and clarinet, the nine one-take tracks function as an intimate, love-filled response to time running short.
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