Eluvium - Talk Amongst the Trees

Eluvium's previous album, I am told, was a beautiful, slightly creepy set of songs mainly performed on piano.  Executing a musical about-face, this album is a multi-layered, textured affair having more in common with Windy & Carl or Landing than, say, Max Richter.  With only six proper songs spanning almost an hour, Talk Amongst the Trees may try the listener's patience if he or she is not prepared.  That said, I think that it is a beautiful album, with depth despite an appearance of simplicity.  Like Growing or Charalambides' INCREASE, Eluvium creates a sonic landscape and one lives in it for a time, as opposed to music that travels or seems to tell a story, like Red Sparowes or Godspeed for instance.

The opening track, "New Animals from the Air," may be my favorite.  It's a great introduction to the album and a great song in its own right as well.  A combination of indistinct, shimmering guitars in the background, subtle picking and reversed notes, and what sounds like the ghost of a keyboard make for an astonishingly beautiful track.  Now I'll be the first to point out that it, like its brothers and sisters on this album, changes little over its running time.  As I said, Eluvium creates a sound and sticks with it, for as long as is deemed necessary - evolution, songwise, is unnecessary because it's all there to begin with.  You don't expect paintings to burst into action, do you?  Why should music be any different?  The buzz of guitars continues through the album, in different tones and keys, but it's always there, like wallpaper upon which the songs are hung like portraits.  Now foggy and slow, as in "Show Us Our New Homes," now vibrating and spacey, in "Everything to Come," now ominous, now mournful - each song sounds different but uses similar overdubbing and layering.  The biggist exception is "Taken," the longest track, which revolves around a repeating, strummed theme on guitar, high in the mix, hypnotic and metallic.  The song is 17 minutes long, overstaying its welcome slightly, but containing the only notable progression on the album as the central theme grows louder and louder - a mere whisper at first but at last taking over the entire song.

I recommend this to any fans of ambient music, from Fennesz to Frost, Landing to Labradford.  It's a nice album for any situation in which you'd put those on, and it's good to have variety, right?  I also recommend Eluvium's Travels in Constants offering, the single track "Behind Your Trouble."  At 33 minutes it's kind of a lot to chew, but it moves more and it's good throughout.  From this album, though, enjoy:
Here's "Show Us Your Homes," by Eluvium.

Comments

[Moka]

Nice album, one of the best ones from last year. Have you checked the last Brian Mcbride release? I'll be posting a track from him this week, check it if you haven't yet.
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