Erland Cooper is a Scottish composer, producer and multi‑instrumentalist. Described as “one of the most unique, consistently engaging composers of his generation,” he was born and raised in Stromness, Orkney. As a solo artist, he has released five acclaimed studio albums, along with multiple companion LPs and EPs, achieving a No. 1 album on the UK classical charts and No. 4 on the US Billboard classical crossover chart. His work includes a trilogy inspired by his childhood home and explores themes of nature, people, place and time. Cooper’s music blends field recordings, classical orchestration and contemporary electronic elements. He also works across mixed‑media disciplines, including installation art, theatre and film. He is a recipient of a Royal Television Society Award, and his music is frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music, as well as featured in various television and film productions. Cooper is widely known for burying the only existing master tape of his first classical album — a violin concerto — in Orkney, deleting all digital copies and leaving a trail of clues for fans and his record label to find it. He buried the tape in early spring 2021, intending to retrieve and release it in 2024. After spending a year and a half underground, the tape was discovered in September 2022 by two amateur sleuths. It was then dried publicly in record shops in Scotland for another year and a half before being released exactly as it sounded after its time in the earth. A short documentary, Recomposing Earth, premiered alongside the album. The record became the first “planted” No. 1 classical album, created in collaboration with nature, topping the UK official charts in 2024.
See for more.
Sillocks
Maalie
Shalder
Spoot Ebb
& Hannah Peel – Particle G1
Lump O’ Sea
Bonxie
Simmer Dim
First of the Tide