Izvođač: Mount Eerie
Izdavač: P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.
Izdanje: 2012
Trajanje: 41:42
Ocjena: 4.5/5
Phil Elverum trebao bi biti ikona nezavisne glazbe. A tko zna, možda to već i je? Stvaranje pod nekakvim monikerom The Microphones sigurno mu je otvorilo put do polica i srca vjernih pratitelja nezavisne glazbene scene, koja se danas najčešće identificira naprosto kao indie scena, što nažalost sa sobom nosi hrpu uglavnom neopravdanih stereotipa. No Elverum nakon prelaska s The Microphones na pseudonim Mount Eerie sigurno nekako izlazi iz stereotipima prenatrpane »indie« scene. Dok je na početku bila riječ o nekakvoj ispovjednoj solo glazbenoj pjesmici s jednostavnim i jednostavno lijepim gitarskim podlogama, sa svakim se albumom zvuk nadograđivao sve čudnijim, ponekad prijetećim, drugi put sanjivim overdubima, gdje se tu i tamo povremeni tipični zvuk indie scene posve utopio u sve većem oceanu zvučnih zidova, magli, dimnih zavjesa i čudnovatih šumova. Kad se tako neprestani vrtuljak najkakofoničnijih melodija sinkrono spojio s Philovim sanjivim glasom i zvukom njegove prelijepe gitare, nastao je skup koji zvuči gotovo smiješno nemoguće – studijski album Wind’s Poem iz 2009., četvrti po redu, postao je nadrealistički nadžanrovski spoj indie folka i black metala.
Philov sanjivi glas i dotadašnju glazbenu suradnju uglavnom samo s ugodnim zvukovima njegove gitare vjerojatno je bilo teško prihvatiti u kontekstu atmosferičnog black metala. Ali samo sve do stvarnog slušanja Wind’s Poem. Projekt The Microphones već je pokazao Elverumovu sklonost korištenju šumova i općeg noiserockovskog pristupa nekakvoj indie folk stvari, koju vjerojatno vuče od samog glazbenog početka. No građenje zvučnih zidova nešto je drugo od semplanja dijelova skladbi pionira atmosferičnog black metala Burzum. Jer upravo je to Phil Elverum učinio na Wind’s Poem. Clear Moon, najnoviji album Elveruma pod imenom Mount Eerie, nastavlja zacrtani jedinstveni zvuk Wind’s Poema. Možda ne toliko blackmetalski koliko samo atmosferično bučan, Clear Moon nastavlja s hipnozom Philovog glasa kroz guste magle glasnih, a ipak pomalo udaljeno zvučećih metamorfoznih gongova ili ksilofona ili zvončića i klasičnih udarnih bubnjarskih basova – nikad točno ne znaš što Mount Eerie zapravo ritmički pokreće. Clear Moon je tako poprilično mirniji od Wind’s Poem, a ipak izgrađen na čvrstim temeljnim ambijentalnim zvučnim frekvencijama.
Lirski Elverum ostaje jednostavno predivan – kroz jednostavno i predivno iznošenje svoje vizije svijeta. To njegovo izražavanje satkano je kroz nevjerojatnu pjesničku jednostavnost, a istodobno nevjerojatnu preciznost u biranju pravih riječi, trenutaka za njihovo izgovaranje i delikatnu izmjenu mekoće vokala. Filozofija ispovjednog lirskog subjekta zapravo je vrlo jednostavna – propituje najbitnija osnovna, a vječno neodgovorena pitanja o životu i smrti u šetnji kroz prekrasnu prirodu okolice Elverumova doma, koja je nedvojbeno bila veliki izvor nadahnuća pri pisanju tekstova za Clear Moon (naposljetku i Mount Eerie potječe iz imena planine Erie, koja je u blizini glazbenikova rodnog mjesta). U biti cjelokupni koncept Phil iznosi već u vjerojatno najboljoj prvoj skladbi albuma »Through The Trees pt. 2« sljedećim riječima: »Misunderstood and disillusioned | I go on describing this place | and the way it feels to live and die«. Njegova je melankoličnost podana kroz tako sanjivu srdačnost riječi i istinski srhtav zvučni skup da su povremeni grotesktni elementi, popraćeni doista najmirnijim melodijama, upravo – groteskni. To Philovo proturječje očituje se i u suprotnosti prijašnjim opisima – kad će zvukovi instrumenata biti najglasniji, najstrašniji i najjezivij, glazbenikova će lirika biti najsvjetlija.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZWgFv0JDE
Mount Eerie s Clear Moon nastavlja gotovo trubadursku tradiciju neke prijašnje, zaboravljene ere, ovaj put bez potrebe za provansalskim jezikom. Elverum priznaje vječno pjesničko poslanje, a istodobno s nevjerojatnom delikatnošću tkanja engleske riječi i iskustava svojih pohoda u šumu utvrđuje i jamči vječnost prirode i svoju smrtnost. Svoju smrtnost, smrtnost lirskog subjekta, smrtnost svakog čovjeka. No Clear Moon, koji je umjetnički savršen uradak u svakom pogledu – glazbeno kroz nevjerojatno upakiranu eksperimentalnost u sanjivo slušljive glazbene forme, pjesnički kroz najjednostavnije predivne i slikovite riječi o promišljanju lakoće smrtnog života i slikovno kroz Philove fotografije nadahnjujućih prizora prirode – razlog je da svaki trenutak svog života provedemo u društvu vječne ljepote. U društvu albuma Clear Moon. U društvu 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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZWgFv0JDE
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.
Postava
Phil Elverum – vokal, svi instrumenti
Produkcija
Phil Elverum
Popis skladbi
1. Through The Trees pt. 2 – 5:50
2. the Place Lives – 2:42
3. the Place I Live – 5:58
4. (something) – 1:31
5. Lone Bell – 4:15
6. House Shape – 4:03
7. Over Dark Water – 3:06
8. (something) – 0:30
9. Clear Moon – 7:20
10. Yawning Sky – 3:28
11. (synthesizer) – 2:59
