(le) poisson rouge

Phil Elverum is Mount Eerie. The 33 year-old 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. II. The first official Mount Eerie album — following the Microphones’ final 2003 full-length, also called Mount Eerie — is 2005’s No Flashlight. 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 there.

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.

"Between 2 Mysteries" by Mount Eerie

Nicholas Krgovich is a 28 year-old Vancouver-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with NO KIDS, GIGI, P:ANO and MOUNT EERIE. He has been releasing records under various monikers since P:ANO’s acclaimed chamber pop debut “When It’s Dark And It’s Summer” in 2002, which has led to his work with the girl group inspired GIGI, the icy displacement of the r’n’b informed NO KIDS and most recently to the singular pop dreams released under his full legal name NICHOLAS KRGOVICH. Even though the material is often wildly diverse there is a unmistakable sense of Krgovich’s deep commitment to exploring the endless possibilities of pop, a discerning ear for sonic detail and quite often an ambition that wilfully borders on the absurd.

http://nicholaskrgovich.tumblr.com/

Photo Credit: GUS FRANKLIN

"[T]he overall effect is lush and evocative and somehow humane … as if all the sensory distractions were removed from your perception one by one until only the sound of your own mind remained.” – The Very Short List on itsnotyouitsme

itsnotyouitsme is comprised of two prolific, highly regarded New York musicians – violinist/composer Caleb Burhans and guitarist/songwriter Grey Mcmurray – each of whom has an extensive musical output in a variety of ensembles and musical idioms. They formed itsnotyouitsme in 2003, fusing and distilling their eclectic mutual inspirations, including J.S. Bach, Brian Eno, and Pink Floyd. Since its inception, the duo has carved out a unique ambient niche at the intersection of chamber music, jazz, and post-rock musical scenes with their breathtaking, instrumental soundscapes.

Burhans and Mcmurray each perform in a wide diversity of styles. Burhans, a 2009 Leonore Annenberg Fellow in the Visual and Performing Arts, is a founding member of Alarm Will Sound, and serves as violinist/violist and occasional countertenor with ACME, Signal, Newspeak, and the Wordless Orchestra, among others. Equally busy as a composer, Burhans' oh ye of little faith... (do you know where your children are?), for Alarm Will Sound, was commissioned by Lincoln Center for the reopening of Alice Tully Hall. Grey has performed and recorded with So Percussion, Chromeo, Gil-Scott Heron, Beyondo, Arooj Aftab and Tyondai Braxton, among many others. He is also the co-leader of the New York City-based triumphant soul band, Knights On Earth.