Mount Eerie


Freebutt, 7 April 2010

Mount Eerieā€™s Phil Elverum cuts an extremely awkward figure. Halfway between computer game shop nerd and speed dating nerd, Elverum is flanked by a duo of keyboard players and backed by two drummers. Baggy shirted and slightly receding, the singer shuffles forward towards the microphone with a slightly stunned and perplexed look across his face before softly welcoming the audience and enquiring how they are. It is an unintended comedic moment causing a few chuckles among the audience.

After beginning the set by smashing together drop tuned chords and feedback as an intro, Mount Eerieā€™s tunes veer between beasty, tom drum heavy feedback-garbled noise, weighty doom-influenced riffs and delicate introspective ambience. Itā€™s the latter that proves most compelling. Whilst the heavier and more abrasive moments seem a tad clumsy, when they give way to Vangelis and Brian Eno inspired synthesised soundscapes such as the beautiful and haunting ā€˜Through The Treesā€™ eyes are agog. The sonic proceedings onstage conjour up a beautiful and dream like atmosphere in the room. Itā€™s stunning.

A further gem is uncovered in the form of the supremely self-aware ā€˜My Heart Is Not At Peaceā€™ with front man Elverum breathing out the lines “I was writhing in the tomb, my heart a frozen boulder” like theyā€™re his last dying words. It causes the skin to crawl in a strangely enjoyable way.

A solid seven years into their existence, Mount Eerie seem to be a band that are content to have their fingers in a great number of proverbial musical pies ā€“ a slight shame given that they have a stunning knack for creating gorgeous ambience which surpasses their other sonic experiments. Solid without being flawless.

Words by Chris Shipman
myspace.com/mounteerieorthemicrophones

What did you think of the gig?

Luke: 7/10 ā€œI though they were good though the vocals were occasionally lost.ā€

Natalie Christoforou: 6/10 ā€œNot really my thing, I though they were a bit boring.ā€

Laurie Stanhope: 7/10 ā€œI really liked the chilled out bits, the heavy bits less so.ā€

Rachael Norman: 8/10 ā€œNot bad at all, ā€˜Windā€™s Poemā€™ is a great album.ā€

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justme
justme
16th April 2010 6:03 am

Phil Elverum is just great!