Eluvium
When I Live by the Garden and the Sea
( Temp Res ) 2006

The word Eluvium unfortunately does not yield any results in Webster's, but may be a reference to alluvium, the silt at the bottom of a river, and the elusive, ever-shifting, intangible quality of a material that in essence is made up of the very most tangible of objects, earth.

The music of Eluvium is also both ever-shifting and intangible, yet in essence tangible and tactile. It is akin to the music of the spheres, or the music of dreams; but it is also a living, breathing entity - despite being electronically produced, it is organic in nature, expanding and contracting, pulsing with a life of its own. This collection of four instrumental dronescapes of varying length add up to a whole that connotes a passage of time, a transitory moment of being, a wispy haze of memory. With titles such as "I Will Not Forget That I Have Forgotten," and "As I Drift Off," each individual track is in itself a tangible, tactile creation, with texture, form and color. Based around shimmering synth swell, buzzing guitar distortion and repetitive piano motifs, they build slowly and maintain a tantric stasis, only to slowly fold back in on themselves without the release of dynamic tension, maintaining their life force until the last tone finally fades beyond the range of human hearing.

This music, to use the term loosely, is both pastoral and cerebral - reflecting the outside narrative of nature and the inner dialog of synapses. Recommended for fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Fennesz or anything on the Kranky label, but wholely unique in vision and execution. Put it on headphones for your next cat nap and see what dreams are summoned.

BeeDub :: [July/Aug '06]