Mount Eerie

If the Moses of Northwest music is Calvin Johnson, then the Joshua leading us into the promised land is Phil Elverum, the man behind The Microphones and Mount Eerie. His work is (inconsistently) brilliant, and when its on you are listening to some of the truest distillation of place and person ever put to wax. Nothing I've ever listened to reminds me of home as much. If Iron&Wine is the gothic south, then Phil represents the moss-shaggy old/young Pacific Northwest. I haven't connected with his latest work as much- experimenting with metal will do that to me- but with this quiet and humble little release, Lost Wisdom, he snagged me back. While he normally works solo, this one comes from a short and sweet collaboration with K records vet Julie Doidron- her assured voice does a lot to balance out his own- and borrowing smalltown hero Fred Squire on guitar, who seems to be channelling early Crazy Horse if Danny Whitten was trying to lull a baby to sleep- same style, different volume. It was released late in the 2008 game and got virtually no love on the yearsend lists, but because its probably Phil's shortest full-length release (and its start-to-finish great) I think it would be a great intro to one of the most interesting and idiosyncatic guys out there. Longtime fans should catch a few returning lyrical motifs, but I've never heard a prettier set of words from him than in You Swan Go On, unless its when Phil lets his favorite singer Julie take If We Knew... somewhere even he couldn't.

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