Originally a member of The Magnetic North and Erland & The Carnival, over the last three years Erland Cooper has been presenting us with compositions inspired by his childhood home of Orkney.
Even without visuals, Copper’s music paints a vivid picture in the mind’s eye of a place of solace, a place where the pace of life slows down, a respite from the blurring speed and claustrophobia of the city. Like many, as a younger man, he may have wanted to escape that life but is now drawn back there time and again. It was this draw that led to three albums bringing focus to the air, sea and land.
With each track named after an Orkney ornithological inhabitant, 2018’s Solan Goose marked his Orkney Triptych debut, the perfect scene-setter of a remarkable place. Sit yourself down in a quiet room, preferably with the aid of headphones and it’s impossible not to feel a release. Those field recordings of sea birds and Cooper’s uncomplicated musical patterns, where the spaces between notes add to that surge of emotion, allow you to transcend earthly tethers for a brief moment.
Sule Skerry followed in 2019, turning its attention from the air to the sea, featuring a number of guests including fellow Orcadian Kris Drever who provided words for ‘Flattie’, a moving piece exploring that Orcadian relationship with the sea, named after the flat-bottomed rowing boats that many fishermen entrusted their lives to in those surrounding heavy waters.
“It’s a record about the sea, our relationship with the outside world, forces outside of our control but it’s also about creating a nest within that, nurturing and protecting our own sea havens, those sheltered bays, those safe places, as we step in and out, always returning back in some form”
For the finale in the series, Hether Blether, named after the mystical hidden isle, Cooper turns to the land – 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.
Over the past three years, Cooper has had another companion who has responded to his musical outpourings by complimenting then visually. Alex Kozobolis is both a composer, photographer and cinematographer and his stunning videos for Cooper’s music have become an integral part of each project. He has made nine films to accompany the three albums The latest is Peedie Breeks, a song about childhood memory and our relationship with the outside world:
https://youtu.be/xv-CIv6V8i0
This week, Kozobolis and Cooper will take over the Barbican Instagram.
Long distance travel in lockdown times. For years I’ve collaborated with artist & friend @alex_kozobolis. At @BarbicanCentre in isolation I’ve projected some of his work across it's iconic architecture – some escapism as we take over their instagram for a week. Tune in Monday🦉 pic.twitter.com/JOWs9kU3b8
— Erland Cooper (@ErlandCooper) May 15, 2020
The take over forms part a series of new digital content to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week (18-24 May) and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Follow the barbican Instagram for more: https://www.instagram.com/barbicancentre
Hether Blether is released on 29 May via Phases.
To accompany the album, Cooper is also making a children’s sheet music book for beginner to intermediate, piano, violin and recorder called ‘Fledgling’. It involves pictures from a local school on the Island, local artists, as well as contributions from nature writers and will be released later in the year.
Photo Credit: Alex Kozobolis