Erland Cooper
Never Pass Into Nothingness Last seen burying an album master tape in the soil of his Orcadian homeland (it’s due to be exhumed in 2024), singer-composer Cooper’s first offering for Universal imprint Mercury KX is a ruminative instrumental EP with a short accompanying film by photographer Alex Kozobolis. Inspired by film-maker Margaret Tate’s vision of beauty emanating from quotidian environments, and with a nod to John Keats’ Endymion in the title and Kathryn Joseph’s hushed recitations, Never Pass Into Nothingness is an almost Zen-like hymn to timeless, transporting quietude. “Peace can be found in exploring a poetry below your feet or just above your eye,” avers Cooper in the film’s introductory commentary, while the footage, shot in monochrome, follows the composer as he perambulates a drizzle-marinated City of London, pausing to commune with nature – a rippling Barbican Centre lake, some wintry trees, a white feather… The music’s immersive weave of ambient piano and subtly aching strings (poignant central chamber piece,
But Still Will Keep A Bower Quiet, would have sat comfortably on the Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s Broadcasting
From Home) accentuates the improbable pastoral tranquillity. DS