Ed Cooper

Mutism is a 2026 work in five movements by Ed Cooper, a composer who studied at the University of Leeds and later taught composition there. The music he first sent to the label all used electronics; Mutism is purely acoustic, written after he was asked whether he had anything without them. It is played by Tahdig, a new ensemble directed by Niki Zohdi, with violin, viola, cello, flutes, clarinets, saxophones and piano.

Cooper came to composition through bands and choirs, listening to Sunn O))) on the way to school, and he still begins most pieces by playing guitar in his bedroom. At Leeds he studied with Scott McLaughlin, and with McLaughlin and Martin Iddon he picked up an idea he now passes on to his own students: set the music learned in school against the music loved outside it, and see what collides.

That collision is audible across the five movements, which move from The kind of quiet found at the bottom of the stairs and My bedroom to Mishearing and rotting and the ten-minute On withdrawing. Cooper hears the second, We are like ships in the dark (I fucking hate you), as a meeting of Cocteau Twins and the composer Laure Hiendl, with a title that nods to Blackhaine. The materials change sharply from one section to the next, and much of the energy comes from those juxtapositions.

Asked what his recent music is about, Cooper answers numbness, though he does not want it to be about anything in particular. He dislikes composers who keep writing the same piece. He calls Mutism a new departure he has no plan to repeat.

Recorded by Ed Cooper in March 2026 at the Clothworkers Concert Hall, Leeds, and mastered by Miles Whittaker. Cover artwork by Ed Cooper.