A lot of Eluvium's music is really good, especially the album Copia, where he struck a majestic balance between his ambient and quasi-classical styles-- a mixture he'd been perfecting over nearly a decade's worth of releases. And it's not hard to sympathize with the modern musician's need to monetize everything to get by. But with such a slight amount of material to consider on these two new EPs, which are really closer to what used to be called maxi singles, it's natural to pause and consider what our eight dollars plus shipping (each) is actually paying for.
On Leaves Eclipse the Light, it's one standout track from last year's uneven Similes, one lackluster instrumental on ambient autopilot, one capably bloggable Four Tet remix of "The Motion Makes Me Last" that freshens up the original's drizzly climate, and a watch-once video for the same track where buildings and overpasses scroll by slowly against a big sky. Slim pickings indeed. It is a frankly unimaginative package-- it seems like we're mainly subsidizing the pretty cardstock-with-cutouts slipcover, or just financially supporting Eluvium's ongoing career. That's a perfectly valid, even admirable, reason to buy something! But if you come at this strictly as a consumer, there's not much to recommend it.
The Motion Makes Me Last EP is also slight, but features more engaging music and is worth a listen for anyone. The title track was another Similes highlight where Eluvium's bleary singing was perked up by a memorable melody, and Nick Zammuto's very Books-y remix/cover is the most striking thing on either disc. The vocal part gets even hookier in his clear, precise voice, which he places at the very center of the song, breaking down the instrumentation into little whirring mechanisms around it. The two new tracks in between don't innovate, but they deliver the goods. "Crash Deconstructed" serves up a big juicy piano theme, while "Remnant Signals" does something similar in watercolor strokes. Together, they nicely sum up the two modes covered on Copia.
Still, "remnant" seems like it might be a key word here. It's not like Eluvium is out of tricks: Similes, for better and worse, introduced a much poppier feel to his music, and his new Static Nocturne album amplifies nature sounds into something noisier and more violent than we're accustomed to from him, albeit still rooted in sweeping sentimentality. The leftovers and holdbacks on these tarted-up singles aren't charmless, but it's unclear for whom they're intended besides the most ardent supporters and strict completists.
