Eluvium

Yes, there are vocals. Yes, there is occasional minimal percussion. These are indeed "songs," but no one is going to mistake Matthew Cooper's quixotic rock for Them Crooked Vultures anytime soon. Eluvium's tower of song isn't built in a new neighbourhood. Instead, Cooper revisits the austere piano arrangements that defined his earliest albums. Scaled progressions and waltzing rhythms muster a kind of swoon from which his level vocals pronounce, rather than sing, the words. While hook-less pop might not dampen many skinny-legged jeans, fans of Eno, David Sylvian or even early Cure will appreciate how Cooper wrings feeling out of gradients and shadows. Even less prophetically, fans of Eluvium will enjoy this. The melodic steps onto dry land, like "Leaves Eclipse the Light" and "The Motion Makes Me Last," recede into the lovely, familiar wash of "Cease to Know," which closes the album. It's enough of a change to keep us wanting more.