Eluvium : Copia

<a href="Reviews/Album_Reviews/Eluvium_%3A_Copia/"><img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/eluvium.jpg" alt=" " /></a> Slow, sweeping orchestral arrangements leave a lot to the imagination.  There are no words or musical cues for movement, so the listener has...
7.5 Temporary Residence
2007 

 Slow, sweeping orchestral arrangements leave a lot to the imagination.  There are no words or musical cues for movement, so the listener has to get a little more proactive and conjure their own images.   Eluvium, aka Matthew Cooper, builds the theatre and draws the curtains back for the listener with his new album, Copia.  Its solemn ambience is an open canvas.

The beauty of an album like Copia is that it requires less attention to the music than most, and freely allows for associative thought.  Focusing on the actual drawn-out flow of a brass instrument, such as in "Amreik", is extremely difficult, but it can recall a memory and turn it into a slow-motion retrospective.   Violins flowing around a quiet piano like in "Indoor Swimming at the Space Station" could even give a crackhead pause.  The climactic piano of "Reciting The Airships" or the spread-out organ of "Ostinato" circle in a sort of holding pattern and allow their moods to really sink in.  

Beyond everything, there's an essential surreal element to Eluvium's music.  The fact that it has nothing to do with pop music or fashion is one of those important distractions from normalcy.  As one of the more enchanting of ambient records, Copia possesses a dream-like poise that allows the opportunity to think, or not think, outside of everyday life for an hour.

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