Lambent Material

Eluvium | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 6, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Temporary Residence
• ASIN: B000093NQ4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,463 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Junkmedia.org Review - Please and yes thank you, July 15, 2003

By 

junkmedia (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lambent Material (Audio CD)

The Temporary Residence label is making quite a name for itself as it continues to quietly release quality albums that range from the backcountry warbling of the Anomoanon to the post-rock hush of Sonna to the bombastic aural explorations of Explosions in the Sky or Tarentel. Add to that list Eluvium 's debut album, Lambent Material, which puts the "bien" back in ambient.

Matthew Cooper (the man behind Eluvium) crafts music best suited for decompression chambers with its pulsating electrical currents, oscillating waves of distortion and tiny piano all overlapping in a starkly beautiful way. It's oddly moving, but make a note that this is not your mother's ambient music. Take the central track, "Zerthis Was A Shivering Human Image", which wraps the listener in a cocoon of fuzzed guitar distortion that shimmers and twists into a gorgeously mellowed drone. It's a deconstructed My Bloody Valentine sans vocals that will surely leave one's elders scratching their heads and running for cover. Other pieces like "Under The Water It Glowed" or "There Wasn't Anything" throw off a soothing phosphorescence that occasionally startles.

So the next time you return from an electric night of busting the latest dance-punk moves and find yourself vacillating between wired and exhausted, put Lambent Material on for the slow fade to sleep. I can't help but concur with the cryptic phrase in the liner notes: "please and yes thank you."

Barin McGrath

Junkmedia.org Review

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This album is worth your time., June 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Lambent Material (Audio CD)

I was just sitting around listening to this when the thought occurred to me that I should review it on amazon. I don't know why. Seriously. I've probably reviewed like 3 things in the past few years. But, about the album:

Lambent Material kinda sounds like something in between the long drones of Windy & Carl and the slow, sad instrumentals of Mogwai (Like from young team or EP+2). You can classify it as an ambient record I suppose.

A cool thing about it is that it's immediately accesible, though it still works it self out in your mind after several listens. It has a nice low key feel to it. There are a lot of winding loops of slow melodies with sounds from field recordings in the background. The replay value is good on this album, it's not something you'd get sick of after listening- it's the type of album you'd play several times in a row.

The most intense this album gets is on the fourth track, "Zerthis was a shimmering human image". It's amazing how the track is so simple in that it shifts back and forth between two drones for 15 minutes, but it never fails to lose your attention. Throughout the track there is buzzing and rumbling that constantly comes in and out of the mix. The rest of the album is full of slow, beautifully constructed late-night songs in the vein of EP+2.

So, I would recommend this highly to fans of Windy & Carl, Gas, Mogwai, Stars of the Lid, and even Aphex fans. Actually, this would appeal to anyone looking for a good ambient record to listen to in the middle of the night. I'm glad to have heard this. It's just that nice.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Junkmedia.org Review - Please and yes thank you, July 15, 2003

By 

junkmedia (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lambent Material (Audio CD)

The Temporary Residence label is making quite a name for itself as it continues to quietly release quality albums that range from the backcountry warbling of the Anomoanon to the post-rock hush of Sonna to the bombastic aural explorations of Explosions in the Sky or Tarentel. Add to that list Eluvium 's debut album, Lambent Material, which puts the "bien" back in ambient.

Matthew Cooper (the man behind Eluvium) crafts music best suited for decompression chambers with its pulsating electrical currents, oscillating waves of distortion and tiny piano all overlapping in a starkly beautiful way. It's oddly moving, but make a note that this is not your mother's ambient music. Take the central track, "Zerthis Was A Shivering Human Image", which wraps the listener in a cocoon of fuzzed guitar distortion that shimmers and twists into a gorgeously mellowed drone. It's a deconstructed My Bloody Valentine sans vocals that will surely leave one's elders scratching their heads and running for cover. Other pieces like "Under The Water It Glowed" or "There Wasn't Anything" throw off a soothing phosphorescence that occasionally startles.

So the next time you return from an electric night of busting the latest dance-punk moves and find yourself vacillating between wired and exhausted, put Lambent Material on for the slow fade to sleep. I can't help but concur with the cryptic phrase in the liner notes: "please and yes thank you."

Barin McGrath

Junkmedia.org Review