By John Faussemagne
In 1996, The Microphones were born. This solo project by Phil Elverum quickly rose to prominence crafting masterful albums experimenting with lo-fi, slacker rock, and indie folk before 2003 when Elverum released the album “Mount Eerie.” This album saw Elverum diving more into themes about nature and our world, which led to Elverum changing the name he performed under to Mount Eerie. Mount Eerie saw Phil continue to evolve as an artist and experiment in many different ways than what he had been doing previously as The Microphones. In 2020, Phil would return to his original moniker and release The “Microphones in 2020.” It was revealed to be the final Microphones album, and in it, Phil poured his heart out about the creation and story of The Microphones, as well as giving insight into his own life. The album felt like a final send-off. Elverum had consistently put out albums from 1996 to 2020 with little gaps in between each. Normally, an album would be released every other year, so after some silence, many believed it to be the end. That was until September of 2024 when the single “I Walk” appeared out of nowhere. A beautiful song that reintroduced the electric guitar into Phil’s hands, alongside his typical acoustic stylings and always stellar songwriting. While it had been four years since his last album, and five since his last under the moniker Mount Eerie, excitement grew quickly as it became clear Elverum had been crafting an album. And if he could put out multiple classics in less than four years at the early stages of his career, the excitement grew as to what he could do given multiple years to create a single album.
Enter “Night Palace.”
The album enters with a hum and a drone. On the opening track, “Night Palace,” Phil paints a picture of the world around him and him as a creature in this world. Elverum establishes himself as a creature, not unlike the other animals around him in a vast, and curious world. The droning turns into a guitar for a moment which turns into “Swallowed Alive,” a song that sounds like it could have been made by your local screamo band. After the soft-spoken ballad “My Canopy,” “Broom of Wind” follows as a rather catchy and almost danceable tune that starts with Phil using an old broom to sweep. He sees the old chunks of straw falling off the broom which he in turn also has to sweep up. He then likens himself to these chunks saying “When my life is worn to a nub / I too will be swept up.” It is incredibly poetic, and a prime example of Elverum’s stellar songwriting. The next song is the lead single “I Walk,” which now is an even better listen than when it dropped as a single.
The eight-song run starting with “Blurred World” would be one of the best albums this year in its own right. “Blurred World” starts with a somber guitar and ghostly hums before Phil begins to sing about aging. Verse one sees him describing aging in a very celestial way explaining his eyesight is getting worse due to the planets moving around him, while verse two sees him not only coming to terms with this but finding bliss in the beautiful blur he now sees. In “I Heard Whales (I Think)” Phil brings nature into his music. While standing at the oceanfrontocean front he swears he could’ve heard music through the crashing waves, then gives insight by playing a washed-out staticky track made to imitate this, h However, when listened to closely, noises that sound like whales creating music can be faintly heard in the background. Following this track is “I Saw Another Bird,” with a title in reference to the 2017 album “A Crow Looked At Me.” Throughout the 2017 album, Elverum used different birds as imagery like on the track “Ravens” in which two Ravens would come to symbolize omens for what would become his wife’s eventual death. Despite the omens these birds have brought him in the past, he sees them as friends and as beautiful creatures. The track has a very uplifting feel despite the track very much relating to his wife’s death. In a substack post about “I Saw Another Bird,” Phil explained he sees birds in a very godly way.
“They leap between worlds, from ground to sky, like laughing emissaries from gods. Or they are gods… Here in this forest, their home, I must seem interesting. They perch and talk at me. I respond in my English, usually with just “hello” and then they lift off. Their wings flap in loud whooshing huffs through the trunks, moving on to the next checkpoint. I love their breathing flapping. I think of them as neighbors. They probably think of me as a pet.”
“I Spoke With a Fish” will have you asking yourself “Wait… is that a trap beat???” About forty seconds into this song Phil continues to sing as he normally would, however, he layers his voice with autotune and a trap beat begins playing. It is a concept so outlandish, but it works so damn well. The punchy 808s don’t stay for a while, only about twenty seconds, eventually being replaced by a more typical drum kit, but this allows for this sound to not overstay its welcome. It is infinitely cool that Phil experimented with this sound and it is amazing how well it works, however, the 808s allow the song to build into an even cooler atmosphere. “Myths Come True” features a beautiful and glitchy piano, before “Non-metaphorical Decolonization,” poses an interesting thought. Instead of this metaphorical and symbolic, idea of decolonization and wanting to help people but never truly doing anything, action is taken. “This ‘America’, the old idea, I want it to die… Let this old world shatter / And transform.” America was built on the colonization of Indigenous people. The country grew by continuing to exploit their land and this idea has continued for centuries. This “old idea” of America that Phil talks about never went away, and the effects of what our founding fathers did irreparably harmed millions. In the present day people pretend to act like they care, but what has truly been done to reverse these effects? In a newsletter about the song, Phil wrote:
“If we can’t be honest with ourselves about such a basic fact of our present circumstances, how can we survive and grow into an authentically liberated and enlightened future?”
Many of the themes of “Non-metaphorical Decolonization” as well as other tracks throughout the album come together in the penultimate track “Demolition.” There are many references to items and images shown throughout the album, however, one specific passage stands out:
“I sing my little songs in a burning time of nature
And woman-denying authoritarian landlords
Of numbed-out spectators glazing over the genocides
Privileged and healthy for the moment while seas rise”
Phil sees himself as privileged and healthy, writing his little songs while the world burns around him. Forests are being burnt to the ground, genocides are killing millions, and global warming isn’t stopping anytime soon. In a way, it is introspective calling his own problems meniscus in comparison to the problems the world is facing, but he is also very much so clearly wishing he could do more. At the end of the day, however, it becomes clearer and clearer that there is nothing he can do and that the world he loves so much will eventually be its demise. Night Palace sees Phil Elverum coming back from hiatus to make one of the best albums this decade. It is beautifully written, composed, and most importantly, thought-provoking. The ideas Elverum lays out throughout the album make you go back for a second and third listen. Sometimes going back to make heads or tails of the poetic ballads he writes, and other times making you think about your own impact and place in this world. Even as he ages, Phil continues to evolve as an artist. It is good to see in many ways he is doing well, however, that doesn’t change the immense sadness that he brings to each and every album. This masterpiece will long outlive Phil, and hopefully, its messages will continue to resonate for decades to come.
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