Eluvium
Lambent Material

Not long ago I talked about the latest chapter by Eluvium, which was released in February this year. Now I am about to review the first work by Matthew Cooper, "Lambent material" from 2003. Since this album, many things have changed in the way of composing music. In fact, in recent years and particularly with the two works Copia and Similes, the compositions have taken their own direction, but here in this work with the cryptic cover, Eluvium's creation is still far from its complete realization. In his last two albums, Cooper has developed a very personal orchestral/electronic ambient style, yet well-defined, particularly due to the massive use of keyboards and synths. In Lambent material, one can already recognize the characteristic elements of the artist's music, but overall the work is shrouded in a sense of undefined, so much so that the tracks seem almost incomplete.

This sense of incompleteness can be fully perceived already in the first "The unfinished", a disjointed melody of rare beauty. The sound is muffled, almost distant, and the strong contribution of the keyboards adds an additional aura of metaphysicality to the song. Along these fragmented lines, all five songs of the album unfold. An album that, unfortunately, is the child of inexperience, and at times, Cooper, in wanting to showcase his artistic level at all costs, creates disjointed songs. An example is the lengthy "Zerthis was a shivering human image". Over 15 minutes of obsessive sound repetition. A litany that seems to repeat endlessly, jarring, dissonant with the rest of the work.

Lambent material is a complex work, as indeed are the others by Matthew Cooper. Here, however, unlike his subsequent works, and particularly the last two, Eluvium's musical conception is not yet fully defined. The great technical skills in managing to outline the music of a moment can be glimpsed. Eluvium is capable of making the "carpe diem" its own and bringing to life melodies outside of time and space. Music that surpasses spatial/temporal categories but can also be transcendent, without solution of continuity. Either obsessive or multifaceted. All these are characteristics that will be united in a perfect blend in the following years.

With "Lambent material," Cooper has produced the first cry of a career that will continue to evolve as time passes, moment by moment...

1. "The Unfinished" (4:38)
2. "Under The Water It Glowed" (5:09)
3. "There Wasn't Anything" (4:40)
4. "Zerthis Was A Shivering Human Image" (15:35)
5. "I Am So Much More Me That You Are Perfectly You" (5:49)