[4] However, instead of continuing to pursue a solo career Cooper served as part of Noir's backing band along with former Alfie guitarist Ian Smith on drums.
[10] Following the quiet disbandment of Mazes, in 2014 Cooper began working with former Veronica Falls member James Hoare and formed Ultimate Painting.
The band signed to US record label Trouble in Mind and released 3 albums in quick succession; Ultimate Painting in 2014, Green Lanes in 2015 and Dusk in 2016.
[12][13] In January 2018, Ultimate Painting announced that their fourth album Up was set for release in the following April via Bella Union and shared lead-single Not Gonna Burn Myself Anymore.
Young also previously played live with Ultimate Painting, and Tobias is a member of US band Sunwatchers[17][18] During the early months of the 2020 pandemic, Cooper and Modern Nature's collaborators launched a sprawling improvisation project called Cycles which was followed by a mini-album Annual which built on the jazz influenced direction explored on a series of self released improvisation cassettes featuring Cooper and collaborator Jeff Tobias.
Cooper worked with musicians from the avant-garde chamber group Apartment House, Chris Abrahams from The Necks, as well as legendary vocalist Julie Tippetts.
In 2022, Astral Spirits released a recording of a piece called Arrival that was performed by members of Apartment House and pianist Alexander Hawkins.
In his column on contemporary classical music for Bandcamp Peter Margasak wrote "The gorgeous recording imparts a satisfying physicality to each instrument while making no effort to hide the incidental sounds of the room or a player shifting in their chair.