Mount Eerie: New Record, Fall Tour

We've been fans of Phil Elverum ever since his Microphone-y goodness, and as such we try to keep an active eye on his most recent project, Mount Eerie. Well, last week we picked up Mount Eerie's latest record Wind's Poem, and we have to say: we dig. While the record is covered in Elverum's easily recognizable sonic fingerprints, we have to say that something about this record struck a different chord than those in the past, and has been winning us over more and more by the day.

Despite its Daft Punkish cover (above) the record is anything but - a pop dance master Elverum is not. What he is, however, is a masterful explorer of textures and sounds, and on Wind's Poem the former is what takes the lead. Each track on the album explores a certain sonic area in a way that creates a flow of traversing a palette of sound. That palette is amazingly diverse, and the stylistic range across the course of the record is remarkable. What's more, whether it be walls of feedback, or pulsing woodwindy synths, Elverum manages expert execution across the board.

While (like much of Elverum's work) we think this record is really more of an all-the-way-through sort of affair, we do have to single out one track. For whatever reason, "Between Two Mysteries" stood out to us as the record's moment of glory. The pulsing synth track gives way to live drums and a relatively up front vocal that just kills us every time. It's just plain lovely. Have a taste below.

Given our affection for the record, we were psyched to see that Elverum has a massive tour in store for the fall, touching extensively on both coasts. In New York that means stops in Brooklyn and Manhattan, while the Bay Area will see the band in both Oakland and San Francisco. Which is to say, you have no excuse for missing this. Check all the dates below.

Mount Eerie Fall 2009 Dates
Fri. Sept. 18th- Portland, Ore.- Backspace
Sat. Sept. 19th- Oakland, CA- 21 Grand- 416 25th St. (at Broadway)
Sun. Sept. 20th- Los Angeles, CA- Center for Arts, Eagle Rock
Mon. Sept. 21st- outer Los Angeles, CA- tba
Tues. Sept. 22nd- San Diego, CA- Che Cafe
Weds. Sept. 23rd- bay area- tba
Thurs. Sept. 24th- Eugene, OR- EMU Amphitheatre at U of O
Fri. Sept. 25th- Olympia, WA- Northern
Mon. Oct. 5th- Oak Harbor, Wash.- Oak Harbor Library
Tues. Oct. 13th- Anacortes, Wash.- Department of Safety
Weds. Oct. 14th- Seattle, Wash.- Vera Project
Thurs. Oct. 15th- Portland, OR- Wonder Ballroom
Fri. Oct. 16th- southern OR/nor. CA- tba
Sat. Oct. 17th- San Francisco, CA- Great American Music Hall
Sun. Oct. 18th- Reno, NV- tba
Mon. Oct. 19th- Salt Lake City, UT- Kilby Court
Tues. Oct. 20th- Denver, CO- Rhinoceropolis, 3553 Brighton Blvd.
Weds. Oct. 21st- Springfield, MO- tba
Thurs. Oct. 22nd- Lexington, KY- Red Mile Round Barn
Fri. Oct. 23rd- Charlottesville, VA- tba
Sat. Oct. 24th- Philadelphia, PA- Haverford College
Sun. Oct. 25th- Philadelphia, PA- 1st Unitarian Church
Mon. Oct. 26th- upstate NY- tba
Tues. Oct. 27th- Palmer, Mass.- a candlepin bowling alley
Weds. Oct. 28th- Boston, Mass.- Mass Art
Thurs. Oct. 29th- tba
Fri. Oct. 30th- outer Philadelphia, PA- Swarthmore College
Sat. Oct. 31st- Brooklyn, NY- Market Hotel
Sun. Nov. 1st- New York, NY- Wordless Music- Le Poisson Rouge
Tues. Nov. 3rd- Pittsburgh, PA- Garfield Art Works
Weds. Nov. 4th- Cincinnati, OH- Art Damage Lodge
Thurs. Nov. 5th- Louisville, KY- the 930 Listening Room
Fri. Nov. 6th- Bloomington, IN- Banneker Community Center
Sat. Nov. 7th- Chicago, IL- tba
Sun. Nov. 8th- Madison, WI- tba
Mon. Nov. 9th- Iowa City, IA- Public Space One

mp3: Mount Eerie - Between Two Mysteries