Eluvium
(Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality
TEMPORARY RESIDENCE
Never in the course of human history have people talked as much as they do today. From incessant and often toxic chatter on social media to cell conversations broadcast on speakerphone, everyone wants their voice to be heard—not just by friends and family, but by the entire world. At the same time, never in the course of human history have people failed to listen to others as much as they do today. With that in mind, there’s no better time for all of us to shut up and commune with instrumental music of the inviting, soothing, and healing variety. Eluvium’s new (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality is a quiet masterpiece that fits the bill.
Matthew Robert Cooper initiated his Eluvium project in 2003. From then ’til now, he’s crafted a dozen full-lengths that are often tagged as “experimental ambient music” (a redundant name for a genre, if there ever was one). Nonetheless, Eluvium’s 13th effort is the fullest representation yet of Cooper’s outlandish compositions, as it’s his first album to feature a live orchestra (he’s joined here by five fellow musicians as well as a scoring orchestra). If there’s any doubt as to who is the centrifugal force in Eluvium, Cooper contributes pianos, synthesizers, vocals, virtual instruments, modular synths, samples—not to mention some additional orchestration of his own. Talk about a kid in a candy store. Yet, because Cooper is such a pro at modulating his music, the low-intensity Whirring and its varying levels of minimalism never scare off the listener.
On paper, that may sound like a recipe for an overstimulating and ultimately exhausting listen, given the large group of musicians that helped Eluvium make it. But then you’d be missing Cooper’s strongest talent as a musician: portion control. While his songs are emotionally loaded, they never pander, pull at the heartstrings (the violin strings, rather), or slap the listener with sappiness. In fact, the gentle “Clockwork Fables” features piano and nothing else.
To give some frame of reference, Whirring doesn’t feature the crashing crescendos of, say, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The album doesn’t come across as either hopelessly broken or exploding with reverence for life, as Spiritualized records are wont to do. And it isn’t contemporary classical music, like the Louisville ensemble Rachel’s, either. Closer comparisons to Eluvium are late-career Mogwai (“The Violet Light” is almost a dead ringer for the Scots) and Sigur Rós. While not as ethereal as the latter, Eluvium resembles them on “Void Manifest,” which features angelic singing that makes it the record’s high point. If The Album Leaf’s stellar new record Future Falling is a tad too quiet or electronic-based for your tastes, Whirring may be just what you’re looking for.
All in all, original-sounding instrumental music that isn’t obsessed with references to films by John Carpenter, Dario Argento, or David Lynch—a trend that’s lasted longer than anyone expected—is a welcome palate cleanser. In fact, for connoisseurs of instrumental music sick of all the bluster that often comes with it, Eluvium’s low-key gem might be their ticket to Elysium.
