Continuous Portrait

Description

On their first album together since Maze of Woods (2015), Matthew Robert Cooper (Eluvium) and Mark T. Smith (Explosions in the Sky) continue their creative curiosity under the name Inventions. Beginning with an uncontrollable burst of laughter that slips into the buoyant atmosphere of the opening track “Hint and Omens,” Continuous Portrait is an album of strange hypnosis, punctuated by songs that venture quite far from Cooper and Smith’s respective works. The bright, playful layers of “Calico” ring out over a steady flow of rhythms and samples of everyday noises, while the dancing lightness of “Outlook for the Future” collides with a storm of emotional resonance. The two tracks stand out as different directions for Inventions, and it is this same sense of exploration, pleasure, and ceremonial melancholy that defines the album as a whole, from beginning to end. Inventions has always been the result of two friends who find comfort and inspiration in the surprise sparked by creating and assembling sounds. Continuous Portrait swirls and hums as if Cooper and Smith want us to tap into our playful side and rejoice more in our lives, if only for a moment. The result is a portrait that continually blends foreign and familiar elements, and evolves with every listen.