I think the first Eluvium song I ever heard was “Genius And The Thieves,” a lovely, meditative etude from Portland composer Matthew Cooper’s 2004 LP An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death. It instantly turned me into a fan, but that album is actually an outlier in Cooper’s discography — the lone solo piano work in a sea of equally gorgeous glowing ambient drone pieces.

Now, though, Cooper is returning to that solo piano sound for the first time in over a decade. His new album Pianoworks was inspired by childhood and the perfect simplicity of piano music for beginners, and it comes along with an accompanying book of sheet music reminiscent of the John Thompson books that Cooper used to learn to play piano as a kid.

We’ve already heard one song from Pianoworks, “Recital,” which came with a new version of “Radio Ballet” — the second disc of Pianoworks features solo piano reworks of older Eluvium tracks, including “Genius And The Thieves.” And today, we’re premiering “Underwater Dream,” which successfully conveys all of the hazy impressionistic beauty that its title suggests. Listen below.

Pianoworks is out 5/31 via Temporary Residence Ltd. Pre-order it here.

CREDIT: Matthew Robert Cooper