Phil Elverum bi moral biti ikona neodvisne glasbe. In kdo ve, če to že ni? Ustvarjanje pod nekakšnim monikerjem The Microphones mu je zagotovo utrlo pot do polic in srca zvestih spremljevalcev neodvisne glasbene scene, ki se dandanes največkrat identificira kar kot indie scena, kar pa žal prinese s seboj kup večinoma neupravičenih stereotipov. Vendar pa Elverum po tem, ko je z The Microphones prešel na psevdonim Mount Eerie, zagotovo nekako izstopa iz stereotipsko preobložene »indie« scene. Medtem ko je v začetku šlo za nekakšno izpovedno solo glasbeno vižo s preprostimi in preprosto lepimi kitarskimi ozadji, se je z vsakim albumom zvočna podoba nadgradila z vse več čudnimi, včasih grozečimi, drugič sanjavimi overdubi, kjer se je sem in tja občasen tipičen zvok indie scene popolnoma utopil v naraščajočem oceanu zvočnih zidov, megel, dimnih zaves in čudaških šumov. Ko se je tako nenehen vrtiljak najbolj kakofoničnih melodij sinhrono združil s Philovim sanjavim glasom in zvokom njegove prelesne kitare, je nastal skupek, ki zveni že skorajda smešno nemogoč – studijski album Wind's Poem iz leta 2009, četrti po vrsti, je postal surrealistično nadžanrski skupek indie folka in black metala.
Philov sanjavi glas in poprejšnje večinsko glasbeno sodelovanje le s prijetnimi zvoki svoje kitare je bilo verjetno težko sprejeti v kontekstu atmosferičnega black metala. A le vse do dejanskega poslušanja Wind's Poem. The Microphones projekt je že pokazal Elverumovo tendenco za uporabljanje šumov in splošnega noiserockovskega pristopa k nekakšni indie folk zadevi, ki jo verjetno fura že od vsega glasbenega začetka. A grajenje zvočnih zidov je drugače od semplanja delov skladb atmosferičnih black metal pionirjev Burzum. Kajti ravno to je storil Phil Elverum na Wind's Poem. Clear Moon, najnovejši album Elveruma pod imenom Mount Eerie, nadaljuje zastavljen unikaten zvok Wind's Poema. Morda ne tako blackmetalski kot le atmosferično bučen Clear Moon nadaljuje s hipnozo Philovega glasu skozi goste megle glasnih, a vseeno nekoliko oddaljeno zvenečih metamorfoznih gongov ali ksilofonov ali zvončkov in klasičnih udarnih bobnarskih basov – nikoli točno ne veš, kaj Mount Eerie resnično ritmično poganja. Clear Moon je tako precej bolj umirjen kot Wind's Poem, pa vseeno zgrajen na trdnih temeljnih ambientalnih zvočnih frekvenc.
Lirsko Elverum ostaja preprosto čudovit – skozi preprosto in čudovito podajanje svoje vizije sveta. To njegovo izražanje je stkano skozi neverjetno pesniško preprostost, hkrati pa neverjetno natančnost pri izbiranju pravih besed, trenutkov za njihovo izustenje in delikatno menjanje mehkosti vokala. Filozofija izpovednega lirskega subjekta je dejansko zelo preprosta – sprašuje se najbolj bistveno osnovna, a večno neodgovorjena vprašanja o življenju in smrti ob sprehodu skozi čudovito naravo okolice Elverumovega doma, ki je bil nedvomno velik navdih pri pisanju besedil za Clear Moon (nenazadnje tudi Mount Eerie izhaja iz imena gore Erie, ki je v bližini glasbenikovega domačega kraja). V bistvu celoten koncept Phil poda že v verjetno najboljši prvi skladbi albuma »Through The Trees pt. 2« z naslednjimi besedami: »Misunderstood and disillusioned | I go on describing this place | and the way it feels to live and die«. Njegova melanholičnost je podana skozi takšno sanjavo prisrčnost besed in pristno srhljiv zvočni skupek, da so občasni groteskni elementi, spremljani z resnično najbolj umirjenimi melodijami, prav - groteskni. To Philovo protislovje se kaže tudi v nasprotnemu prejšnjim opisom – ko bodo zvoki inštrumentov najglasnejši, najgrozovitejši in najstrašnejši, bo glasbenikova lirika najsvetlejša.
Mount Eerie s Clear Moon nadaljuje malodane trubadursko tradicijo neke prejšnje, pozabljene ere, to pot brez potrebe po provansalskem jeziku. Elverum prizna večno pesniško poslanstvo, hkrati pa z neverjetno delikatnostjo tkanja angleške besede in izkušenj svojih pohodov v gozd ugotavlja in zagotavlja večnost narave in svojo umrljivost. Svojo umrljivost, umrljivost lirskega subjekta, umrljivost slehernega človeka. Vendar je Clear Moon, ki je umetniško dovršen izdelek v vsakem pogledu – glasbeno skozi neverjetno zapakirano eksperimentalnost v sanjsko poslušljive glasbene forme, pesniško skozi najbolj preprosto čudovite in slikajoče besede o razmišljanju lahkotnosti umrljivega življenja in slikovno skozi Philove fotografije navdihujočih prizorov narave – razlog za preživljanje prav vsakega trenutka svojega življenja v družbi večne lepote. V družbi albuma Clear Moon. V družbi 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.
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.
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