Matthew Cooper Is Eluvium. The Portland-based musician plays, records and layers all his music to a contemplative, golden balance. The music, rather hard to define in words, proves easier to imagine considering the inspiration, which Cooper explains is “nature and science and sometimes literature – as well as living with a brilliant human that paints and laughs and lives interestingly.”
The instrumental project, now on tour with Explosions In the Sky, produces fragile, subtle, yet poignant tracks. Eluvium’s recent album release, “Copia,” includes a small orchestra and a brass section among the band’s trademark piano, guitar and electronica loops. “The obvious differences would probably be the instrumentation switching from guitar and keyboard based works to a much more ‘classical’ area of instruments,” Cooper said of his newest work.
Cooper, who thinks he was baptized on April Fool’s Day, grew up in the South learning piano and guitar before leaving lessons behind and embarking on his own musical explorations. “I’ve always known that I wanted to study music and other arts, and pledged myself to creative expression – I was then one day lucky enough to meet a kind gentleman by the name of Jeremy DeVine, the owner of Temporary Residence Limited,” he said.
Jeremy DeVine started the record label, now host to several post-rock and instrumental projects including Eluvium and Explosions In the Sky. He and Cooper both moved to Portland for a change of scenery where Eluvium eventually signed on.
“I fell in love with Portland and in general, the weather of the Cascade region – perhaps the strongest manner of influence simply came from having escaped my normal world and having the chance to work musically by myself,” Cooper said.
Now the musician has left the Northwest for an international tour with Explosions In the Sky, and he predicts they’ll all be busy and exhausted amidst the excitement of playing abroad. “I am close friends with the Explosions guys, and they make it really easy for me. I simply haven’t been so immediately warmed up to people in a long time – they are a truly honest and caring bunch of human beings.”
Cooper, a one-man act, explained the difficulties of performing solo. “When recording I can literally be as many people as I want where as live – I am really one person no matter what machines I bring along with me, so I generally work with the material I can pull off and try to find subtle minute new things within the piece, tiny changes or sometimes just go for an uplifting sonic overtake letting the vibrations do their work.” He hopes he can eventually bring a band on tour, allowing him to play pieces with live string and brass and keyboard and guitar pieces that are layered live, as well.
Instead of writing new music between shows, Cooper can be found reading Spanish writer and philosopher Java Marías – either that, or Harry Potter books. When he does sit down to write, Cooper let’s the music emerge naturally. “I don’t really have any methods except to simply start making sounds when the right time comes,” he said. “I normally don’t have to think about It, but once I get going I usually rely on multiple looping devices as well as more recently, computer recording equipment.” As an ambient, solo musician, Cooper spends hours reworking his sounds in post production, but his original moments of creativity “come randomly and often spur of the moment.”
The kombucha tea fanatic, classical music radio lover and Southerner-turned-Northwest musician will make his way into town tonight for a performance with Explosions In the Sky. The term “Eluvium” roughly translates to the debris from rock caused by wind, and Matthew Cooper’s mesmerizing, ambient melodies are surely no debris, but they might blow you away.
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