Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter In Summer

Beverly Glenn-Copeland today shares new single “Laughter in Summer”, the title track from his forthcoming record. A duet between himself and eco-poet, theatre actor and producer Elizabeth Copeland, the single is accompanied by a beautiful live video from a recent sold-out Hackney Empire performance.

Laughter in Summer will be released on February 6, 2026 via Transgressive.

A song born almost accidentally, Glenn at first composed music for a series of instrumentals meant for listeners to write their own lyrics. When he played the piece for Elizabeth, by a lake, listening to loons and gazing at the sky, words rose up in her: laughter in summer, how I remember.

Diagnosed with dementia 2 years prior, Glenn and Elizabeth have discovered new ways to navigate the world together, and to create the art and music that so pulls them.

On writing “Laughter in Summer“ together: “It was a very painful time,” Elizabeth recalls, “because I was so aware of just how much of my sweetheart I was losing.”

My life, my joy, on Earth, here, with you, she sang. The words came as a gift, as if from the loons themselves.

Now, as Glenn lives with a version of Dementia known as LATE, their walk has taken on a different weight. Out of this season comes Laughter In Summer, an album the couple made together—realizing, before long, that it was a love letter to one another: a tender ledger of memories, shared devotion, grief and joy.

Elizabeth has now rightly taken her place as producer of Glenn’s work, shaping Laughter In Summer alongside their music director, Alex Samaras.

In 2024, before a Montreal performance, they were invited to spend a few days recording alongside producer and engineer Howard Bilerman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Vic Chesnutt, and Wolf Parade) at the iconic Hotel2Tango. There was no plan to make a record. They simply wanted to capture the songs they had been singing on tour, joined by a choir of Montreal voices gathered by Alex. None of the singers had rehearsed with Glenn and Elizabeth. As the engineers were getting the mic levels set, Glenn, Elizabeth and the choir loosely rehearsed their first song. This rehearsal is what you hear on Let Us Dance, Movement 2. Every other song on the record was done in Glenn’s preferred style–one take only.

As Glenn’s executive functioning diminishes, his musical being—“and I would say his heart self,” Elizabeth adds—only grows stronger. At least once a week, they sit together and name what is being lost. “Because when you deny an emotion,” Elizabeth says, “it becomes frozen within you.” The making of Laughter In Summer became another way of being present with each other—songs not just as compositions but as testaments.

“From the moment we are born, we are walking towards our deaths,” Elizabeth says. “And that’s okay. In order for there to be birth, there must be death.” Glenn tells her that when he goes, he will be able to be with her even more than now. For Elizabeth, the thought is both comfort and pain. But what sustains them both is Glenn’s refusal to stop giving. “Sometimes he’ll hold my hands and say, ‘I have so much more to give. I’ve got so much to give these young people.’”

Laughter In Summer follows Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s highly acclaimed 2023 record The Ones Ahead, as well as the 2024 collaboration with Sam Smith on a new recording of his classic song “Ever New” for the Red Hot Org Transa compilation record.

Tour Dates

December 5 – Ottawa, CA – The Bronson

December 13 – Toronto, CA – East End United Church

January 16 – Vancouver, CA – Chan Centre at UBC

April 10 – 12 – The Hague, NL – Rewire Festival

June 4 – 6 – Barcelona, ES – Primavera Sound

June 12 – London, UK – LIDO Festival

#beverlyglenncopeland