textura

Albums
Cory Allen
Belong
Bio / Larkian / Autistes
Black Swan
James Brewster
C.H. District
Crazy Penis
Robert Crouch
Demdike Stare
d'incise
Cezary Gapik
Ron Geesin
G. Night & G. Morning
Tim Hecker
Hole Punch Generation
Hopeless Local M. Band
E. De Jesus / Minus Pilots
Saito Koji
Kontakte
Little Fritter
MaCu
Sam Moss
Dustin O'Halloran
Olekranon
Örsten
Phillips / Hesse-Honegger
Pleq
Maceo Plex
Pietro Riparbelli
Salva
Shaula
Spartak
Daniel Steinberg
Colin Stetson
Subtle Lip Can
Tapage & Meander
Robert Scott Thompson
Ultralyd
Simon Whetham

Compilations / Mixes
DJ Bone
Pop Ambient 2011
Silence Was Warm Vol. 3
Superlongevity 5
v-p v-f is v-n
Werkschau

EPs
Benoit & Sergio
Mark Bradley
Eluvium
Encomiast
Ragle Gumm
Tevo Howard
Isnaj Dui
Clem Leek
Luv Jam
offthesky & Ten and Tracer
Sleeps In Oysters
Nobuto Suda
Totem Test
Morgan Zarate

Eluvium: Leaves Eclipse The Light
Temporary Residence

Eluvium: The Motion Makes Me Last
Temporary Residence

Though they're issued as separate CD releases, Eluvium's Leaves Eclipse The Light and The Motion Makes Me Last EPs are best treated as a single unit. And it's not simply because they're being issued concurrently but more because in each case the title track appears on its sister release in remix form. Taken together, the releases supplement two Similes songs with five previously unreleased tracks, two of them remixes by Four Tet and The Books' Nick Zammuto.

Certainly one of the primary highlights on the double-EP release is the mesmerizing reverie “Leaves Eclipse The Light”; not only is the song's entrancing instrumental arrangement and Matthew Cooper's multi-tracked singing reminscent of Eno (circa Another Green World and Before and After Science) but so too is the laconic weariness of lyrics (“Cannot find the words to use the thoughts that I would write / Overanalyzing how the leaves eclipse the light”) that echo “Golden Hours” and “Everything Merges With the Night.” In fact, the song is so strong, it overshadows the piece that follows, “A Life In Tides Less Current,” despite the fact that, taken on its own terms, the eleven-minute instrumental would fit snugly into Eluvium's Talk Amongst The Trees without anyone batting an eye. In contrast to the polished sound presented on Similes, “A Life In Tides Less Current” harks back to the style of the earlier Eluvium album, where epic settings of luminous shimmer and haze dominate. The EP ends with another exclusive, this one a remix of “The Motion Makes Me Last” by Four Tet that finds the song's yearning piano melodies animated by a locomotive thump and the original's vocal largely stripped away.

Reminiscent of “Leaves Eclipse The Light,” the second EP's “The Motion Makes Me Last” again embeds an Eno-like vocal within an hypnotic field of psychedelia, with the song's chiming piano melodies standing out against a thick and blurry electronic backdrop. Perpetuating the opener's melancholic tone, “Crash Deconstructed” limits its focus to piano chords resounding within (and eventually consumed by) a immense dust-storm of haze, while “Remnant Signals,” like “A Life In Tides Less Current,” recalls the ethereal tone of Talk Amongst The Trees, albeit this time in slightly miniaturized form. The EP ends with a plodding electronic-post-rock makeover of “Leaves Eclipse The Light” by Zammuto that's light years removed from Cooper's original. Take away the two previously released songs and the EPs add up to about thirty-three minutes of “new” material, more than enough to tide over Eluvium devotees until his next collection of original material appears.

February 2011