Comprised of one single entity, that being Matthew Cooper, Eluvium has driven home a sound that is far beyond “Ambient,” and light years further from the loose-knit genre, which still has yet to classify itself.
The music itself draws strengths from mood and mood alone. Many artists seem to strive for comparisons, as they feel this is what’s needed to succeed. . . but when no real comparison can be made, that is when you know something special has happened. Sure, Talk Amongst the Trees isn’t an album you’d spin to liven up a room, but what makes it truly beautiful is that it brings a moment of clarity to our everyday insanity, which we all so desperately need from time to time.
The tones flowing through each atmospheric track don’t resonate or pop like you may imagine, but they actually undulate with a passion so deep and cavernous that you almost begin to hallucinate from the sheer auditory visuals which ensue. Certain tracks, such as “Calm Of The Cast-Light Cloud” moan with a whale-like language, shaping a feeling without deviating in melody, while others, namely “Taken” and “One”, shimmer with a structure reminiscent of the deepest layers of a Sigur Ros track, stripped to their barest of minimum.
This is one of those discs which must be listened to in full to truly make the experience a rewarding one. Play it like a soundtrack to your day. It doesn’t need to be the primary focus either, as it flows and sculpts an emotion without even being noticed. It’s like a deep-coma atmospheric dream, which needs no rules or boundaries to explain.
Our world needs more musicians like Eluvium. That being those who focus on what the meaning of music truly is to us all. . . a life-force which cannot be explained. Something which is necessary and calming regardless of its “commercial appeal.”
