Mount Eerie
Clear Moon
P.W. Elverum & Sun
May 22, 2012 Web Exclusive
Here’s more plodding, plaintive, Pacific Northwest pabulum from Phil Elverum. This is the first of two full-lengths lined up to be released this year, both recorded in his new studio, a repurposed church in Anacortes, WA. Elverum specifically cites ambient Kraut soundtrack masters Popol Vuh and contemporary just-barely-black-metal auteur Nadja as influences, but it’s clear from the beginning that a favorite influence looms large: place.
Early on, “Through the Trees pt. 2” conflates Elverum’s northwestern landscape with his own mortality, and ponders our rather slight place in this behemoth natural world: “There’s no part of the world more meaningful/And raw impermanence echoes in the sky.”
That ominous feel determines much of the atmosphere here, as on “Lone Bell,” a quite wonderful, persistent two-chord drone dotted with saxophone accents and fluttering snare drums. “House Shape” reaches for the brainy obfuscation of This Heat’s Repeat, a motor-flavored beat pumping through different production treatments, eventually drifting into lilting shoegaze. “Over Dark Water” could not be more aptly named, a doom-metal drone featuring a gothic, dramatic siren from Geneviève Castrée (of Ô Paon—one of two guest vocalists on the album, along with Allyson Foster of Hungry Cloud Darkening), before a crash of noise brings the song to an end upon the rocks.
Elverum’s explorations usually fall somewhere in between the folksy camping-trip harmonies and the heavier, distortion-soaked misanthropy of his northwest contemporaries, and they definitely lean toward the latter on this outing. Nature is a force to be reckoned with, not a campfire—it’s a crashing wave, a strong wind blowing your door open, an omnipresent reality that courses through the music as much as Elverum’s own experimental streak. (www.pwelverumandsun.com)
Author rating: 7/10
Average reader rating: 9/10
Most Recent
- WFR Central, Derby, UK, March 23, 2024 (Review) — Altern 8, Maria Uzor, Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, Cholly
- Premiere: Sofia Bolt Shares New Single “Bus Song” Featuring Stella Donnelly (News) — Sofia Bolt
- St. Vincent Shares New Song “Flea” (Feat. Dave Grohl) and Announces New Tour Dates (News) — St. Vincent, Dave Grohl
- Elbow – Guy Garvey on Their 10th Album “AUDIO VERTIGO” (Interview) — Elbow, Guy Garvey
- Vampire Weekend Share New Song “Mary Boone” (News) — Vampire Weekend
Comments
Submit your comment
There are no comments for this entry yet.