Do we call this a return to form? Or formlessness? Well, not quite either, but this is refreshing in all twenty minutes of its blank-mind soundscaping. Somewhere around the nine minute mark a wee little piano line drifts in -- its genesis nebulous -- and as it congeals I sit on the edge of my seat, straight up dreading the arrival of mawkish horns or gaudy string swells come to extrovert the shit out of Eluvium's single-cell melodies. Perhaps self-conscious of what he did with his last record and winning enough to play with that, Eluvium strokes the suspense by letting the piano line repeat on out into infinity and slowly working in what sounds like the inhales of an orchestra that never gets to blow. Yes, it's long and even a little dull, lacking the downright poignant bass shifts and confident noise cascades that made Talk Amongst the Trees (2005) such a soul-shaker. But the oscillator blade that helicopter chops through the close of the track, dividing its air into an understated whistle 'n whine, is a small revelation. I will take this over fucking Copia (2007) any day of the week.

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