Erland Cooper

Hailing from the archipelago of Orkney, composer and multi-instrumentalist Erland Cooper explores the natural world of landscape, memory, people and place. Cooper believes music often reflects the landscape a musician is surrounded with, be it rural, urban, real or imagined. 

His second solo album, Sule Skerry, was released 17th May this year as the second in a triptych shaped by Orkney’s air, sea and land, as it was celebrated by Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown. While his acclaimed first solo record Solan Goosepaid homage to Orkney’s birdlife, Cooper turns his attention to the North Sea in Sule Skerry.

Originally part of acclaimed bands The Magnetic North and Erland & The Carnival, Cooper has a diverse musical history. Last year’s debut solo album Solan Goosewas an Album of the Year at BBC Radio 6 Music, the Quietus, and more; and Sule Skerryhas already been crowned a BBC Radio 6 Music Album of the Day.

Cooper recently scored NEST, a giant kinetic sound and light installation. It was collaboration with the groundbreaking Marshmallow Laser Feast to open London’s first Borough of Culture celebrations.