7. Eluvium - Zerthis was a Shimmering Human Image
If one ever needed proof that music needn’t be glittery, stylish, or saccharin to be appealing, it wouldn’t be hard to eventually find. But if one needed proof that it was possible to rid a piece of all signs of melodic, rhythmic, and [bad word]  strip it down to the most fundamental [bad word] of sound, and then go on to achieve not mere appeal, but rather a state of mesmerizing entrancement that borders sonic nirvana, then Eluvium’s “Zerthis was a Shimmering Human Image” is as close a proof as we’ll ever find. [bad word] by a loop of two chords lasting an almost perpetual-feeling fifteen minutes, “Zerthis” has the listener at its mercy purely by virtue of its enormous hypnotic capacity. Brainchild Matthew Cooper wields a [bad word] over the tonal and dynamic controls of this piece, utilizing [bad word]  elongated textures to overwhelm the looped melodic intervention with a tsunami of drone. The end result is a beautiful, [bad word] meditative experience. (Mac Nguyen)