Eluvium is the wind-swept music of Matthew Cooper, whose work evokes a sort of dream state, somewhere between lying down in bed and falling asleep. The Portland, Ore., musician has been creating beautiful sound-worlds for the past seven years, but with Similes, Eluvium has taken some radical shifts. You can hear the album here in its entirety for the week leading up to its release on Feb. 23.
In the past, Eluvium albums eschewed words, standard song structure and percussion. But Similes finds Cooper challenging himself without losing the heart of what makes Eluvium's music so beautiful in the first place. And so, when you give the album a First Listen, you'll hear Cooper sing for the first time — and you'll hear some songs with a verse and a chorus. These turn out to be powerful additions; it may well signal the end of Eluvium as we know it, but rest assured that the result is as atmospheric and hypnotic as ever.
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