On their own,
Eluvium
mastermind
Matthew Cooper
and
Explosions in the Sky
guitarist
Mark T. Smith
have explored similar sonic territories in very different ways. Where
explore the subtlety of gentle soundscapes and textural ambience,
EITS
favor grandeur, with overwhelming crescendos of emotion breaking through the loneliness of their songs' wide-open spaces. Teaming up as
Inventions
, the duo create a new identity for themselves on their eponymous debut for
Temporary Residence
. Not so much merging their individual sounds as finding a middle ground between them, the pair craft a series of melancholic musical plateaus, with each feeling more like a specific moment in time than a rising and falling composition. Rather than fill the song with dynamic builds and cathartic releases,
work in pulses of intensity, capturing a moment and holding on to it like a firefly caught in a jar. In creating these musical still lifes,
have hit on a sound that's more about mesmerism than movement. The real magic, however, is that they've somehow managed to pull this off without making the album powerfully dull. By giving us songs that feel like the middle of something,
leave room for the listener to add their own beginning and ending to the musical narrative, allowing the listener to burrow into the layers of melody to carve out their own safe little space. While the pedigree of this project is certainly strong,
stands strong on its own, so although fans of
won't have any trouble digging into the album, being a fan of the duo's previous work isn't a part of the price of admission. ~ Gregory Heaney