Album Review: Night Palace by Mount Eerie

Anacortes, Washington, which may be the essence of Mount Eerie in city form, should be addressed to either side of my ears, as if natural splendour is a portable device to Elverum. When he sings, it's a closely felt lullaby. When he strums his guitars, he creatively pings them between ears, as if the listener is surrounded by a naturally occurring indie folk band.

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signed, PHIL Night Palace is the predictable crunch of twigs underfoot, that crisp non-smell of fall's first snow, of being covered in moss and leaves with a cup of tea and a biscuit. It is sparse and familiar and peculiarly warming in a way that only cold places can be. Remember that time that ….

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Over the next few years, he remarried (and amicably divorced), toured, raised his daughter and released two more acclaimed albums -- Now Only (2018) and Lost Wisdom pt. 2 (2019). The irony of these works, particularly A Crow, was Elverum's simultaneous ability and inability to properly convey grief, frustration, exhaustion and solace. Death IS real, and it's NOT worth singing about, but he was determined to try, over and over again.

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Phil Elverum continues to muddy the idea of a musical identity on his first album since 2020. That was billed by The Microphones, yet sounded closer to his autobiographical reflections of grief as Mount Eerie. Night Palace is a Mount Eerie record, but is genetically linked to The Glow Pt. 2… which he made as The Microphones.

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Anyone familiar with Phil Elverum and his extensive catalog knows his music is not exactly for the casual listener. His albums under Mount Eerie, and even earlier with the Microphones, are usually deeply personal, immersive, and often challenging, asking listeners for close attention and commitment. Following those same lines, Night Palace, his 11th release after a four-year gap, takes listeners on a slow, winding journey through somber moods and reflective soundscapes.

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Mount Eerie's 2017 album A Crow Looked at Me and its follow-up, 2018's Now Only, were largely acoustic efforts filled with intensely pained songs written in the aftermath of the death of songwriter and producer Phil Elverum's wife, Genevieve Castrée. Songs like the aching "Real Death" frankly questioned the purpose of making art at all. Mount Eerie's new album, Night Palace, is far more guarded, filled with Motorik beats and buzzing guitars that threaten to swallow up Elverum's fragile vocals.

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