Albums of the Decade - 23. Eluvium - Nightmare Ending (2013)

 23. ELUVIUM - NIGHTMARE ENDING (2013)

This one's like the ultimate ambient album, sweeping textures, luscious strings, twinkling pianos and a bucket of comfort - almost wrote "compost."

Predictive texting used to cost me dearly on the old Nokia, on the old iPhone 3 and such. Now I needn't worry so much, but I have come to realize that I am such a lazy typer that my texts are littered with spelling mistakes.

Like, if I'd just typed slower, the time it took to go back and edit a text like this one, could've been savoured kicking back into a fulcrum of chill and had lavendar bathsalths with some Eluvium playing.

 

Albums of 2016 - 35. ELUVIUM - FALSE READINGS ON

35. ELUVIUM - FALSE READINGS ON 

A master in ambient chamber music, Matthew Cooper is a mainstay on this blog. His 2003 debut Lambent Material was one of my favourite records of last decade and since that first effort, Cooper has enveloped his sound to include choirs, organs, claps of thunder, drones and bells and a fully realised sound.

False Readings On is like an entry into a strong back- catalogue that adds more swells, greater sonic trialling -  not Eluvium's best album to fall asleep to -  and  his greatest indication yet that he might be heading towards symphonic proportions.

I've mentioned quite a bit this year the importance of naming, and here Eluvium sounds like an element. As this element becomes more familiar and associated with sleepy-time, it has a placebo effect of dream-waves, especially on flights. The most soothing thing on the list by far this year; it's the sound of the angels calling.

Records of 2014 - 33. Inventions - Inventions

33. INVENTIONS - INVENTIONS 

Eluvium collaborating with one of the members of Explosions in the Sky. Sounds good on paper. And it is! Everything is good with paper. Yea, I know they're cutting down your trees, but your i-Pad is using electricity which burns a lot of renewable fossil energy. I just invented that sentence.

This album is beautiful electronic new-age and the song Entity perfectly captures it with beautiful dissonance and hiss, coupled with crashing waves and vocals better than Enya's. There are two things I just did:

1) Did a conversation ESL class to students about music and I did a genre quiz. I played Enya's Sail Away and they said it didn't touch their hearts. I bet this would.

2) Did a "Which Philosophical School of Thought are you in?" shitty quiz on FB and got Epicurean which means I see the glass as half full. No need to with this. It's full.

Oh ah.

Records of 2010 - 50. Eluvium - Similes

50. Eluvium - Similes

I've been following the music of Matthew Cooper for a few years now. He's cool. He began with 'Lambent Material' in 2003, an excellent ambient album that incorporates warm washes of sound that puts the listener in a little envelope and posts them to heaven. 2005 brought 'Talk Amongst The Trees' that was a lot more droney, empty and sci-fi. In 2007, Cooper got all new-age with the piano and organ led 'Copia.' And so, all of his work before 'Similes' was without vocals. Now that changes, as he sounds like a bedroom artist more than ever before. This time he has percussion. This time he has choruses. But once again, he has another new, spellbinding development.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvAHrrtJgKc