Phil Elverum

Phil Elverum is Mount Eerie. The multi-instrumentalist has played in other bands, and worked as a producer, but remains best known for this solo project, which began under the name the Microphones in 1997. In 2003, he renamed the project Mount Eerie (and added an "e" to his last name, Elvrum) after returning from a trip to Norway, where he lived alone in a remote cabin for a winter. "Mount Eerie" specifically refers to the mountain on Fidalgo Island, an island an hour and change north of Seattle where you’ll also find Elverum’s lifelong Anacortes, Washington hometown.

To date, his most critically acclaimed (and popular) album is the Microphones’ 2001 epic The Glow Pt. 2. The first official Mount Eerie album—following the Microphones’ final 2003 full-length, also called Mount Eerie—is 2005’s No Flashlight: Songs of the Fulfilled Night. It was followed by 2007’s Mount Eerie pts. 6 & 7, a 132-page, hardcover book of his photography, packaged with a 10” picture disk. In early 2009, the journals he kept and drawings he scribbled in Norway were released as a 144-page hardcover book called Dawn. It came with 16 color photo cards and a CD of songs he wrote while living in the cabin.

Regardless of the moniker, the various collections include interlocking themes, references to earlier works, and are marked by Elverum’s distinctive naturalist self-recorded lo-fi analog sound that mixes a whispered, gentle voice, which can also yell and bellow, with various strains of sound: His work can be delicately spare or booming and ambitiously layered and noisy, often in the same song. Lyrically, he focuses on memory, first-person storytelling, myth, naturalism, the everyday as sacred, and a sense of place (in and out of Washington State), among other related things. In addition to his extravagantly packaged albums, Elverum has released self-published books (which he illustrates or fills with his photographs) via his own label, P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd. – Brandon Stosuy

Wikipedia: Phil Elverum (born Phil Elvrum May 26, 1978) is the sole permanent member of the Anacortes, Washington-based indie rock bands The Microphones and Mount Eerie.

Phil Elverum is known and noted for his manipulation of analog recording devices and unique recording approach. His records have a distinct, natural sound. Most of the Microphones catalog was recorded on a broken 16 track reel to reel tape machine while his recent material has been recorded on an 8 track reel to reel.

Elverum currently operates P. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd., from which he sells records by Mount Eerie and the Microphones as well as Thanksgiving, Woelv and The Spectacle.

Phil Elverum used to drum for the Olympia, Washington-based band Old Time Relijun. He is also a founding member of the band D+, and has produced and engineered recordings for many other artists, including Beat Happening, Mirah, Little Wings, Karl Blau, and Jason Anderson.

In addition to his albums, Elverum has released a few self-published books. He is also a painter, and has provided the artwork for most of his albums and many t-shirts and posters sold during his tours.