![]() ![]() I’m open to making any kind of music, or maybe making no music ever again. I made two records in this similar style just because I had more to say, and I might still have more to say after this, but the future is totally open. STEREOGUM: If you do end up running out of paper, or exhaust all you have to say on the subject, could you ever see yourself returning to that more atmosphere-based way of music-making, or is it completely out the window now?ĮLVERUM: I never want to keep doing the same thing more than once, honestly. I would hang out in the studio and make these sound experiments, and words would be less central to the process. STEREOGUM: Your process used to be more improvisation-based, no?ĮLVERUM: Yeah. But yeah, I write on these big pieces of paper in pencil, and I sort it all out on paper before recording anything, and that’s new. I’m almost out, I’ve almost used up all of the pieces of paper that I’ve used for these songs, so maybe that means that I’ll have to stop writing songs in this style. ![]() ![]() I write on these special pieces of paper - I get superstitious about it, I guess - these big, long pieces of letter-pressed stationery that Geneviève made. Starting with A Crow Looked At Me, it changed completely from how I used to do it, but yeah, between these two records it’s been very similar. STEREOGUM: And your writing process was similar this time around?ĮLVERUM: It maybe evolved slightly, but just barely. There are a few more instruments and slightly more production, but I recorded it all at home in the same room as the last one. I just had more to say on the subject, so I kept writing. I didn’t really stop writing, there was only a brief gap. Do you look at Now Only as a continuation of A Crow Looked At Me or an entirely separate entity?ĮLVERUM: I think of it as a continuation, for sure. STEREOGUM: There are clear connections between your last two albums, whether it’s the fact that the main subject matter is Geneviève, or smaller stuff like the Tintin In Tibet comic being in one album’s artwork and inspiring a song title on the other. ( This article was originally published by Stereogum.) It almost felt like I was breaching a wall between our quiet hometown and a music press that’s spent the last year rummaging around his personal tragedy like a bull in a china shop. When we connected over the phone, he was surprised to see my Anacortes area code. I briefly met him and Geneviève a couple of times during my teenage years, but having lived elsewhere since 2009, hadn’t seen Phil since her death. I grew up in Anacortes with Elverum’s music and kind presence as constants in the town’s fertile music community, and was excited and nervous to speak with him. ![]() He and Geneviève had planned to move to one of the more remote nearby San Juan Islands with their daughter, and after putting it off in the wake of Geneviève’s death, he’s now about to live somewhere other than his hometown for the first time in years. Marshmello Drops Lil Peep Posthumous Collab 'Spotlight': Listenīut as Elverum’s music nestles its roots into solid ground for once, he’s about to undergo a change of scenery. Elverum, it seemed, could be counted on to stay in one place but explore many in his music. Catch two Mount Eerie shows a few months apart and you’d likely see a completely different onstage incarnation - a full rock band, a xylophone-and-synth-based trio, or a solo guitar act. Listen to those different versions and you’d hear distinct shifts in tone, instrumentation, and genre. Peruse their tracklists and you’d see song titles repeated or slightly altered. By Discogs’ count, Mount Eerie released 15 albums, 11 singles, four EPs, two compilations, and one film soundtrack between 20. Outside of tours and one winter spent in Norway, the small port town has been his near-constant home base.Įlverum’s music, on the other hand, never ceased to churn, distort, and evolve. In the early 2000s, he returned to his island hometown of Anacortes, Washington after spending five years in Olympia making music as the Microphones, and borrowed the name of the island’s tallest peak. Since adopting the Mount Eerie moniker almost 15 years ago, Phil Elverum’s mostly remained in the same place. ![]()
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