Matthew Robert Cooper has been making music under the Eluvium moniker for a decade now. In that time he has become, relatively speaking, something of a big name in the ambient music world but, for many, he is still yet to release a definitive record for his project. With the epic ‘Nightmare Ending’ it feels like Cooper is going for broke to a certain extent. Is this the definitive statement that listeners have been waiting for?
The short answer would be a no, but that’s not to say that this is a record worth writing off. Early listens are, admittedly, underwhelming and, at over eighty minutes in length, the potential is there for this record to prompt many a listener to switch off. Unlike the records of Kyle Bobby Dunn or Stars of the Lid, Eluvium’s music isn’t quite dreamlike and ethereal enough to prompt consistently blissful catatonia over the course of such long periods of time and so, it is with a wearisome air that some may mull over ‘Nightmare Ending’. Sticking with it though reaps plenty of rewards.
As the effective successor to 2007’s ‘Copia’, ‘Nightmare Ending’ draws from many of the same textural palates. It’s warmer in tone than many a drone record. You feel like you are bathing in the ambience rather than letting it gradually consume you, and it’s this that ends up being the record’s saving grace. The strange thing about some Eluvium pieces in the past is how strangely inhuman they sounded, despite their clear attempts to invoke emotive responses in listeners. That simply isn’t a problem on this album. In fact the most flawed moments, the piano focused tracks that seem to be there largely to fill things out rather than to add any real depth to the album, only add to the charm of the whole thing. It’s the most human Cooper has ever sounded. You feel closer to him after this record than ever before.
The gentle fuzziness of opener ‘Don’t Get Any Closer’, the delicacy of the Ira Kaplan borrowing closer ‘Happiness’, the highs and the lows in between, this is a record that ends up being more than the sum of its parts. This is a reminder that, sometimes, perfection isn’t necessarily the right thing to aim for.
‘Nightmare Ending’ is out now via Temporary Residence.
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The short answer would be a no, but that’s not to say that this is a record worth writing off. Early listens are, admittedly, underwhelming and, at over eighty minutes in length, the potential is there for this record to prompt many a listener to switch off. Unlike the records of Kyle Bobby Dunn or Stars of the Lid, Eluvium’s music isn’t quite dreamlike and ethereal enough to prompt consistently blissful catatonia over the course of such long periods of time and so, it is with a wearisome air that some may mull over ‘Nightmare Ending’. Sticking with it though reaps plenty of rewards.
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