Mount Eerie- Clear Moon ALBUM REVIEW

On Mount Eerie's latest effort, Phil Elverum managest to transform is usual sounds and emotions into a repetitive, drone-y, and sometimes ambient musical experience. Mostly, it's beautiful, but a few moments felt a bit overlong to me. Plus, despite being well over 40 minutes, I didn't come away from this album feeling completely satisfied with the songs and material I was dealt. Still, it's a very solid album. Phil keeps the sounds of Mount Eerie potent, strange, and emotionally affecting while changing things up enough to keep his musical trajectory interesting for longtime fans.

What do you think of this album? Love it? Hate it? Why? What should I review next, eh?

FAV TRACKS: THROUGH THE TREES PT. 2, THE PLACE I LIVE, HOUSE SHAPE, YAWNING SKY

LEAST FAV TRACK: LONE BELL

MOUNT EERIE- CLEAR MOON / P.W. ELVERUM & SUN / 2012 / SLOWCORE, LO-FI, SINGER-SONGWRITER, EXPERIMENTAL, AMBIENT, DRONE

7/10

Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?

[theneedledrop]

phil always puts together great vinyl packages. he's a saint when it comes to that.

[joywolfe.]

we've officially seen Cal and Anthony in the same room

[theneedledrop]

yeah, phil mentioned that when he changed the name of the project. he says in the old days of the microphones, he actually used to make songs about recording equipment. :-S

[TrevorTSmith]

I love the glow pt 2, one of my favourite albums ever

[theneedledrop]

i talked about the variation--or lack thereof--in the consistent, drone-y style of the album, and spoke of phil's penchant for avoiding v/c/v song structures. i even spoke about how many of these tracks will find a groove / concept and just grow it until the finish of the song--hence, the whole "drone" thing. did you even watch the review. lol. i spoke about most, if not all, of these things.

[Danpatrickbrown]

This album makes me want to just shut up and look at a tree.

[geoffnorwai]

New Mount Eerie so soon :-) Had to watch this review again. This is the one that introduced me to Phil`s music and opened up a whole new world of music to me

[theneedledrop]

favorite? happy to hear it! yeah, i'm hoping ocean roar grabs me a bit more.

[chrilborn]

Back when Anthony was up all night on yet another crazy methamphetamine bender 🙄 glad he's sobered up since

[polishpunk]

house shape is definitely my favorite song on this one. the first track is fantastic too. great review!

[IMissedChurchForThis]

I knew Phil while living in Anacortes, WA for 3 1/2 years. You kinda have to "get" Anacortes and the Pacific NW in order to get what he's doing. You *can* appreciate his music never having been to Anacortes, but it just makes so much more sense after living there. (ANTHONY! You should review something by Karl Blau. Karl is an A-town native too, and Phil usually points to Karl as his biggest influence. If you like Phil, you're bound to dig Karl. Cheers!)

[theneedledrop]

i don't know what reviews of mine you've watched. i talk about those things in my reviews as well. not even sure if you watched this one all the way through. i even spoke about how some songs on here lacked development in the melody, so it underwhelemed me. i mention the vocal harmonies a few times as well, too.

[theneedledrop]

you think so? i thought the drone-y qualities of this album made for a much "smoother" experience. no flashlight feels much more rickety--you know, like old microphones albums used to...in a good way.

[theneedledrop]

if there's another week of classics, it'll be at the end of this year. :-)

[crieswhicharewings]

THIS was an amazing review sir. I'm not very fond of your reviews where you just use metaphors for what the music sounds like.

This one you really analyzed Mount Eerie and the album, and used your metaphors sparingly. It was very balanced. Great job Anthony.

I'm going to give this album another listen.

[theneedledrop]

Well, thanks for the well-written response, dude. :-)

[theneedledrop]

i've heard him before, but i'm not sure he's put out something this year. i thought his last album was pretty fun.

[theneedledrop]

i've been told it's often because most people don't have much to say about the album i've reviewing since they haven't heard it. i dunno. your thoughts?

[Spec_Bebop]

Great review! You touched on almost every aspect you could pick up on this album. First listen for me on any of his material and I was immediately hooked. Evoked so much emotion in the lyrics that I can relate to and the instrumentation is perfect. He combined a piece from every style I would want to hear on an album succesfully with an identity. In a way it sort of reminds me of Grouper, Mirroring, or even This will Destroy you's last LP

[infernoquest]

This was easily my favorite album so far from Mount Eerie. I understand how it could feel unsatisfying or abrupt but it's complete when paired with the other 2012 release, Ocean Roar