Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence

The first, Solan Goose (2018), is an ambient, neoclassical album inspired by local birdlife. It was followed by Sule Skerry (2019), which focuses on the sea and maritime culture. It blends orchestral arrangements with field recordings. 

The final album in the trilogy, Hether Blether (2020), is a tribute to the land. It incorporates spoken word and elements of folk music to evoke a sense of homecoming and personal memory. In addition to this trilogy, Cooper has worked on several experimental projects, including Music for Growing Flowers (2021), which came complete with seeds. 

Cooper’s work blends classical, electronic, and natural soundscapes. His music reflects his deep connection to place and the natural world. For Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence, we see Erland Cooper’s first composition for solo violin and string ensemble. It’s also a celebration of Orkney poet George Mackay Brown. Cooper decided to attempt a more intense collaboration with the landscape. 

In 2021, the centenary of the poet’s birth, Cooper and the Studio Collective string ensemble recorded the work onto tape. The ensemble was led by solo violinist Daniel Piaro. Cooper then buried the recording, with no protection, in a secret location on Orkney – at the same time, he DELETED all digital files. Later, he provided clues in a treasure hunt for those interested in finding it. This encouraged exploration of the land. 

The plan was always to dig it up in 2024. In 2022, they started selling tickets for a reveal at the Barbican – your reviewer was lucky enough to get a ticket. The idea was that he would then play the tape for the first time. The string ensemble would play it EXACTLY as it came out of the ground – warts and all! If there were nothing left on the tape, it would have made for an excruciating evening of silence. 

As an aside, what is it with musical performance art and Scotland? For example, the KLF burned a million pounds on the island of Jura in 1995… is it the whisky?

In the end, Cooper’s tape only stayed in the ground for a year. A couple following the clues dug it up, remarkably unscathed. There are moments of wear – the level sometimes drops down a little on one channel or another. This is particularly noticeable when listening to the album on headphones. However, don’t let this put you off a fantastic piece of music. View it as patina rather than a fault. 

Set across three movements, Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence has a joy and verve that carry you along on a wave of enthusiasm. The recordings of George Mackay Brown, which are interspersed throughout the work, are incredibly engaging. They perfectly complement the music, and the musicians’ performance is first-rate. 

The question about whether Erland Cooper’s Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence is a piece of conceptual art or an album of music is null and void – it is both, and all the more enjoyable because of that. 

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