Erland Cooper releases Eynhallow, an EP of choral works

ERLAND COOPER

EYNHALLOW

COMPLETES THE YEAR

WITH AN EP OF CHORAL WORKS, COLLABORATING WITH SHARDS – OUT NOW ON PHASES RECORDS

ERLAND COOPER completes another bus0y year with an EP of choral variations, Eynhallow, featuring the Shards vocal ensemble – out today: https://erlandcooper.ffm.to/eynhallow

The new EP follows the final releases in a triptych of albums informed by the archipelago of Orkney in Scotland, where Cooper grew up.

Hether Blether – an Album of the Year at The Skinny and Resident – was released earlier this year, followed by Landforms (featuring Marta Salogni), its ambient companion piece, completing a series of albums inspired by the air, sea and land of the island – six albums released in spring and autumn cycles over three years.Eynhallow is named after a mysterious holy island in Orkney, which was abandoned after suffering an epidemic in 1851. The island houses nothing but a ruined derelict church, and for this collection Cooper talks of “the choral music sung in this lost kirk to warm against the winds that shook it.” 

Erland Cooper enlisted contemporary London based vocal group, Shards (Nils Frahm, Sigur Ross, Michael Price), led by Kieran Brunt, for the EP. Cooper explains, “I wanted to explore the intimacy of a quartet of voices between soprano, alto, tenor, bass and how wide and fragile that could be, pushing the depth of field in sound with less voices than a normal larger scale choir.”

The recordings were socially distanced, but created with the hope that they can be performed live, “The human voice is so harmonically rich and of course the oldest instrument and when I listen back to these pieces, I can’t help but imagine the four singers united together in Orkney’s St Magnus Cathedral. Perhaps one day soon, I’ll record and perform in that majestic, red stoned building that holds the memory of Orcadian poets Edwin Muir and George Mackay Brown.”

Hailing from the archipelago of Orkney in Scotland, the contemporary composer and multi-instrumentalist has recently completed his triptych of work shaped by the islands – exploring the birdlife (2018’s Solan Goose), the sea (2019’s Sule Skerry, voted one of 20 Best Scottish Albums of the 21st Century by Clash) and, on the latest album, Hether Blether, the land and its people. Inspired, in essence, by Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown, filmmaker Margaret Tait and composer Peter Maxwell Davies before him, this final album is a celebration of the Islands’ memory held in timeless landscape, community, myth and mythology. The album looks to the past through the stories of the island and to the present and future through its people.

Listen to Eynhallow: https://erlandcooper.ffm.to/eynhallowHigh res press photograph and artwork: https://we.tl/t-Cd0OxmZ2R2 

EYNHALLOW EP TRACKLISTING

Under Brinkie’s Brae

Creels in Stromness

Solan Goose of Sule Skerry

Under Brinkies Brae (Poem version) featuring George Mackay

Brown

Following a breathtaking performance last month, part of the Live at the Barbican series, Erland Cooper has announced dates for 2021.

ERLAND COOPER LIVE DATES – 2021 UK TOUR

6 May 2021- Belfast, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

26 May 2021 – Edinburgh, Summerhall

27 May 2021 – Edinburgh, Summerhall

28 May 2021 – Birmingham, St. Paul’s Church

29 May 2021 – Manchester, Hallé St Peter’s

1 June 2021 – Bristol, St George’s

2 June 2021 – Canterbury, Gulbenkian Theatre

3 June 2021 – Brighton, St. George’s Church

26 Sep 2021 – Stroud, Hidden Notes

Tickets are on sale now from: https://www.erlandcooper.com/  

FURTHER LISTENING

Listen to the BBC Radio 4 programme, Wild Music, with Erland Cooper and John BurnsideWatch the video for ‘Skreevar’: https://youtu.be/iB4uqD1IOiw ‘Peedie Breeks’: https://youtu.be/iB4uqD1IOiw ‘Longhope’ feat. John Burnside: https://youtu.be/KLs6nPu0wWw‘Holm Sound: https://youtu.be/3NOF2WO3A9UListen to / buy Hether Blether: https://erlandcooper.ffm.to/hetherblether

RECENT PRAISE FOR THE TRIPTYCH

“An unmitigated triumph, and with Hether Blether, Cooper saves the best for last.” – The Quietus “Sometimes hope is exactly what you need” – Loud & Quiet “his best LP to date” – Secret Meeting“Its unbroken sense of place is acutely apt for our current times, the message is that people will always endure” – Electronic Sound“Magical and moving, Hether Blether is as homely as a ceilidh and as awe-inspiring as a storm” – Q “… at once calming and euphoric, with a beauty that’s its own justification” – Uncut “…a record of simple beauty, exploring the place where electronic and classical music can co-habit” The Quietus“Wonderfully nuanced songwriting matched to lung-bursting string arrangements.” – Clash“…a meditative, transportive listening experience… an ethereal swoon which imagines Sigur Rós remixed by Bibio. It makes you wonder where Cooper will take you next” – Q“considered, crafted and explorative of details that only someone with a true affinity can delve into. If Cooper’s intent was to create an insular kind of magic, he does so” – Loud and Quiet“Now, with Sule Skerry, he’s expanding his palette, retaining an ambient quality, while bringing in a more epic, moving scope.” – The 405“Nature’s songwriter” – read the recent Guardian interview here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/08/erland-cooper-musician-orkney-interview  Website I Facebook I Instagram I Twitter