Overview

Mount Eerie (formerly known as The Microphones) is the project of singer-songwriter Phil Elverum.

The Glow Pt. 2

Coming from late 90s, Elverum keeps the lo fi aesthetic alive, but rather delves into what could be categorized as freak folk (though lacking the kicking and screaming of, say, Animal Collective’s Sung Tongs). The three first songs in the album, I Want Wind to Blow, The Glow Pt.2, and The Moon are diamonds: the way in which Elverum takes the folksy, singer-songwriter genre he is known for, and twists it (gently), carelessly juxtaposing the main melody with experimentation (I Want Wind to Blow); remains unfamiliar to the formal structure of a song (The Moon); or constructing upon noise and finding climax in the acoustic (The Glow Pt. 2). Elverum’s style hasn’t changed: he is still the shy, depressed man he presents himself as in Don’t Wake Me Up, or even in early recordings, but his approach toward is does change. I believe it is the product of the inherent experimentation of the middle 90s (the album was recorded during the 1998 - 1990 period): how was him to take a stand in favour or against the embracement of experimentation, when his own genre allows for very limited freedom? In a way, he answers this through The Glow Pt.2, by asserting that:

  • Folk can break boundaries: the formal song structure is gone in this album. Most songs in the album are 1 or 2 minutes long, and sometimes songs flow seamlessly into one another ( (Something) and Deep). Even within a song there are sudden breaks, which mark the end of one section and the start of another one;

  • Experimentation need not be pervasive: there are many approaches to musique concrete, not all albums must be Danse Manatees or Twin Infinitives, and Elverum understands this and shows how experimentation can be inserted into the genre in an organic manner (e.g. I Want to Be Cold, Samurai Sword). He even dips his feet into drone (in Deep), with debatable results;

As a result of the experimentation Elverum delves into, The Glow Pt.2 fits in many genres: some songs pull it close to rock (I Am Bored), some to folk (I Want Wind to Blow), and some even to proto-dream pop (or late shoegaze) (Samurai Sword), and, perhaps one of the most important characteristics of the album: they complement one another. The Glow Pt.2, i would argue, is conceptual and non-conceptual at the same time: its songs habit a shared space, but have no common traits that distinguish them. Sometimes songs have a motif (I’ll not Contain You, You’ll be in the Air), and sometimes they are just pointless interludes (i don’t want to call them filler) (both instrumental cuts, Map, and, in a certain way, Headless Horseman).

Alas, with this album Elverum creates an instantly recognizable mood, a non-theme: the songs live in a cold, warm yet restless, blue forest. The standout moments are among folk’s brightest, but having a 20-song album to be uniformally consistent is an almost impossible task even for Phil, and this is reflected in the short, aimless, and short-scoped cuts on the album.