The Microphones
Mounting Eeire


Quite a bit has been said and written about the mysterious, quiet Phil Elverum, the singer/songwriter/composer and often one-man touring band that, for the past five or six years, has helmed the grassroots collective known as the Microphones.

He first gained what he would no doubt refer to as an overwhelming amount of attention when the critically acclaimed It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water was followed-up by the even more critically acclaimed sequel, The Glow, Pt. 2 in 2001.  A beautiful, sprawling album that combined folk balladry with gusts of white noise and lo-fi studio tricknology, The Glow's wall of sound was a perfect backdrop to Elverum's poetics. The album was well received, gaining status on Amazon as the best independent album of that year, as well as Pitchfork Media's top spot.

The follow-up, dubbed Mount Eerie, once described as sounding like a musical based upon Wes Anderson's Lord of the Rings, was an epic, complex, five-song concept album about life and death. Shortly thereafter, Phil announced the Microphones would forever be referred to as Mount Eerie.

"I guess, the Microphones was finished, a completed project," said Elverum; sitting outside the small music venue and art gallery he would be performing at later that evening.

And what was that project?

"It was the albums I did as the Microphones."

Earlier this year Elverum released Live in Japan, February 19th, 21st, and 22nd, 2003, an album of surprisingly all new material.

"I kinda consider it a crossover from Microphones to Mount Eerie," explained Elverum. "That's why it's by the Microphones, written in quotes. At the time I was referring to myself as Mount Eerie, but the tour in Japan was promoted as the Microphones, because nobody there knew Mount Eerie, because they had no reason to. Also, I didn't want it to be the first Mount Eerie album.

"It was some sort of weird netherworld that exists between the two projects. Thematically as well, because there were some themes and references [on the album] to Microphones material."

That album gives a good impression of what Elverum's live performances are like. On this particular evening, Elverum plays little of that album and nothing of any other, opting instead for original, contemplative folk songs about life and the world in an intimate setting. The haunting beauty of Phil Elverum's music is accented by the dimly lit and sweltering hot venue.

"It's always overwhelming," Elverum said of playing live.

"I love playing music, traveling, seeing things. But I also like staying at home, so it's weird, because I have to do one thing to enjoy the other." Although he has no plans in the immediate future to record, he has ambition to return to the studio he's built.

"Soon I hope. I miss it," said Elverum.

During his performance, he allots time for a Q & A session, at which point he's asked the same question, and a moment later, asked when he'll return to this area.

"You two should battle," Elverum suggests jokingly.

In the meantime, Elverum's tour will continue, and in late October we will see the release of "wise old little boy," a documentary filmed two years ago following Elverum and Kyle Field of Little Wings as they tour small towns and unconventional venues.

"It's embarrassing to have a movie made after you," said Elverum.

"It is hard to imagine people getting into it, but it's also hard for me to imagine people getting into my music, so I don't know."