Artist: Mount Eerie
Label: P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.
Release: 2012
Runtime: 41:42
Rating: 4.5/5
Phil Elverum should be an icon of independent music. And who knows, maybe he already is? Making music under the moniker The Microphones definitely paved his way onto the shelves and into the hearts of the loyal followers of the independent scene, which these days mostly just calls itself the indie scene, something that sadly drags along a pile of mostly undeserved stereotypes. But once he switched from The Microphones to the Mount Eerie alias, Elverum definitely started standing out from the stereotype-laden “indie” scene. At first it was a kind of confessional solo tune with simple and simply beautiful guitar backdrops, but with every album the sound got stacked with more and more strange overdubs, some menacing, some dreamy, and the odd typical indie sound got completely drowned in a swelling ocean of sonic walls, fog, smokescreens and weird noises. When that nonstop carousel of the most cacophonous melodies locked in with Phil’s dreamy voice and the sound of his gorgeous guitar, the result was a mix that sounds almost laughably impossible – the 2009 studio album Wind’s Poem, his fourth, became a surreal, genre-defying blend of indie folk and black metal.
Phil’s dreamy voice and his earlier, mostly guitar-only sound were probably hard to picture in the context of atmospheric black metal. That is, until you actually listened to Wind’s Poem. The Microphones project had already shown Elverum’s taste for noise and a general noise-rock approach to his indie folk thing, which he’s probably been doing since day one. But building walls of sound is a different beast from sampling parts of songs by atmospheric black metal pioneers Burzum. And that’s exactly what Phil Elverum did on Wind’s Poem. Clear Moon, Elverum’s latest album as Mount Eerie, carries on with the unique sound laid down by Wind’s Poem. Maybe not so much black metal as just atmospherically booming, Clear Moon keeps up the hypnosis of Phil’s voice through thick fogs of loud yet somehow distant-sounding, shape-shifting gongs or xylophones or little bells and classic thumping bass drums – you never quite know what actually drives Mount Eerie rhythmically. Clear Moon is a lot calmer than Wind’s Poem, yet still built on a solid foundation of ambient frequencies.
Lyrically, Elverum remains simply wonderful – through his plain and wonderful way of laying out his vision of the world. His expression is woven from incredible poetic simplicity, and at the same time incredible precision in picking the right words, the right moments to say them, and the delicate shifts in the softness of his vocals. The philosophy of the confessional lyrical subject is really quite simple – he asks the most fundamental, eternally unanswered questions about life and death while strolling through the beautiful nature around Elverum’s home, which was undoubtedly a huge inspiration for writing the lyrics of Clear Moon (after all, even the name Mount Eerie comes from Mount Erie, a mountain near the musician’s hometown). Phil basically lays out the whole concept in what’s probably the album’s best track, the opener “Through The Trees pt. 2”, with these words: “Misunderstood and disillusioned | I go on describing this place | and the way it feels to live and die”. His melancholy comes through in such dreamy, heartfelt wording and such genuinely creepy sound that the occasional grotesque elements, paired with the calmest melodies imaginable, are just that – grotesque. This contradiction of Phil’s works in reverse too – when the instruments are at their loudest, most ghastly and most terrifying, the musician’s lyrics are at their brightest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZWgFv0JDE
With Clear Moon, Mount Eerie carries on an almost troubadour-like tradition from some forgotten era, this time without any need for Provençal. Elverum acknowledges the poet’s eternal mission, and with incredibly delicate weaving of English words and experiences from his hikes into the woods, he discovers and affirms the eternity of nature and his own mortality. His own mortality, the mortality of the lyrical subject, the mortality of every single human being. Yet Clear Moon, a work of art in every respect – musically through incredibly well-packaged experimentalism in dreamily listenable form, poetically through the simplest, most wonderful and vivid words about pondering the lightness of a mortal life, and visually through Phil’s photographs of inspiring natural scenes – is a reason to spend every single moment of your life in the company of eternal beauty. In the company of Clear Moon. In the company of Mount Eerie.
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Phil Elverum should be the icon of independent music. And who knows if he is not already one? Creating music under the moniker The Microphones has undoubtedly got him onto the independent music scene’s junkies’ shelves and into their hearts. And although nowadays’ independent music scene most often comes with many unjustified stereotypes, Elverum transcends the so-called indie scene under his most recent pseudonym, Mount Eerie. Initially the project was about Elverum’s confessional poetic self wrapped around pretty simple and simply pretty guitar melodies, but the sound later expanded further with each consecutive album with more and more either weirdly terrific or weirdly dreamy overdubs. The initial typical “indie” sounds more or less drowned in the increasingly large ocean of walls, mists and smokescreens of sound. So, when this never-ending merry-go-round of the most cacophonic melodies synched with Phil’s dreamy voice and his ever-so-beautiful guitar sound, the result was so unseeming – Mt. Eerie’s studio album Wind’s Poem from 2009, fourth in a row, became this surrealistic genre-transcending fusion of indie folk and black metal.
Phil’s dreamy voice and his former sound, which was heavily based only on his guitar, were pretty hard to imagine in the context of atmospheric black metal. Up until the point of actually listening to Wind’s Poem. The Microphones project has already indicated Elverum’s tendency to use different kinds of noise and his almost noise rock approach to his own indie music concept. But building walls of sound is something completely different to sampling atmospheric black metal pioneers, Burzum. Which is what Phil Elverum did on Wind’s Poem. Clear Moon, Phil Elverum’s latest album under the aforementioned moniker Mount Eerie, continues Wind’s Poem unique sound evolution. Clear Moon is maybe not as much black metal as it is atmospherically booming, but it definitely continues with Phil’s voice hypnosis through thick mists of loud, but at the same time far-away sounds. Clear Moon is in that regard much calmer than Wind’s Poem, yet it is also built on firm blocks of ambiental sound frequencies.
Lyrically Elverum remains simply wonderful – through his simple and wonderful delivery of his own vision of the world. This unique inner voice of his is woven through amazing poetic simplicity, which is at the same time very careful at choosing the right words, the right moments to say them and the right Phil’s voice’s softness to say them with. The lyrical subject’s philosophy is actually very simple – his questions are always very basic, yet they are always the sort that will probably stay unanswered forever. Those of life and death. Those which are mostly thought about during a walk into the nature. The natural surroundings of Phil’s home place were definitely very influential. His name (Mount Eerie) is derived from a mountain’s name – Mount Erie. In fact, Clear Moon’s whole concept is given to the listener on the first track, “Through The Trees pt. 2”, which is, in my opinion, the album’s best: “Misunderstood and disillusioned | I go on describing this place | and the way it feels to live and die“. Phil’s melancholy is presented through this really dreamingly charming choice of words, often powered by scary background sounds. The few grotesque elements are, on the other hand, accompanied by the calmest melodies possible. This contradicting contrast of Phil’s goes the same for when the lyrics are beautiful in the most common sense – in that case the sounds of the instruments are the loudest, the creepiest and the eeriest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZWgFv0JDE
Mount Eerie’s Clear Moon continues the long-forgotten troubadour tradition of some era from long ago, this time without the need to use Provençal dialect. Elverum gives in to the poet’s eternal mission. His unbelievably delicate weaving of the English word and pictures of his own experiences while walking through the woods with questions of life and death is surpassed only when he describes the nature’s eternity in regard to his mortality, the mortality of his lyrical subject and the mortality of each single human being. But Clear Moon is, in its perfection in every artistic sense, the reason to live out each and every moment of our lives in the company of eternal beauty. In the company of Clear Moon. In the company of Mount Eerie.
Lineup
Phil Elverum – vocals, all instruments
Production
Phil Elverum
Tracklist
1. Through The Trees pt. 2 – 5:50
2. the Place Lives – 2:42
3. the Place I Live – 5:58
4. (something) – 1:31
5. Lone Bell – 4:15
6. House Shape – 4:03
7. Over Dark Water – 3:06
8. (something) – 0:30
9. Clear Moon – 7:20
10. Yawning Sky – 3:28
11. (synthesizer) – 2:59
