Eluvium - Virga I (2019) [Hi-Res]

Virga I is the first album in a new ambient music series by Eluvium. Matthew Cooper, the composer behind the Eluvium moniker, explains: “I had recently been playing around with various forms of generative music and long-format looping – as well as practicing patience interacting with musical systems and recordings – hesitantly dueting with them, trying to keep things minimal while also encouraging as much depth as possible. It was really just something fun to privately experiment with for personal gain. Over time I’d created a group of pieces and had them on various mixes that I would make for myself, but I hadn't really given them much thought. Over the winter, my wife and I were subjected to an unexpected move from our home, into our tiny garage studio as we had some work done on the house. It was a little like an unexpected backyard camping trip but with two dogs and two people in a very small space, with the majority of our belongings in boxes on the driveway – all while weathering a snowstorm. It got a little weird in there, but also oddly comfortable. At some point, my evenings became very much about relaxing, stretching, and breathing to these pieces. They gradually fostered a very specific mood that I found intoxicating. The music seemed to enhance the soft orange glow in this small room in the dark of night, with the snow falling just outside. They also reminded me of some of my earliest works, those which were a bit less researched and considered. Perhaps they were simply more “felt” than anything. It occurred to me that other people might find that peculiar feeling inside these works in the same manner that I have, and that I might enjoy returning to working in this way again soon. I decided it might be nice to start a series inspired by this setup. A place for me to relax and experiment with emotions, and slow movements with various toys in my studio, in honor of strange deep feelings, gentle touches, and memories from a long time ago. I titled it Virga, after the drifting of rain we sometimes catch drooping on the horizon, disappearing before it reaches the ground.”