A Crow Looked at Me by Mount Eerie–Indie Album Review

A+Crow+Looked+at+Me+by+Mount+Eerie--Indie+Album+Review

Max Koop, Blueprint Staff

 

Now I’m more of a film buff then a music buff. That being said I still love all kinds of music. Artists like Radiohead, Gorillaz, Kendrick Lamar and more shaping who I am as a person.

I feel like the people on the blueprint don’t really talk about the low key stuff. The stuff that you don’t hear on the radio.

I listened to this album on the recommendation from youtuber, theneedledrop, saying it’s depressing and hard to listen to at times. I agree with both those statements completely.

All I knew from this album based on the first few minutes of his review were, it’s depressing and it’s about the man’s recently deceased wife.

Mount Eerie is a Washington based one man show from songwriter and producer Phil Elverum. As I mentioned before this album centers around his wife, Geneviève Castrée, dying from cancer on July 9, 2016.

Before today in the 108 minute advisory, I had not heard anything about this artist. I didn’t know his style  and didn’t have any expectations, not having heard anything of his previous work. All I can say is wow.

Now this album isn’t emotional in a grand way with loud vocals or in a hard fashion. This album is very soft and while there’s not much instrumentally going on here. There is a lot going on here emotionally.

Phil hits home with very straight forward lyrics literally saying in some songs how long she’s been gone. It’s about the understanding of death and the pain you go through while dealing with it. It’s very moving and you can maybe even relate with Phil about his struggles. Throughout the album he mentions he misses her but can still feel her presence. In the track Forest Fire he’s singing about how he couldn’t wait for her to come through the window because their child is cold. Also saying he rejects and disagrees with nature. As a viewer I feel like he’s going through denial of her absence because he can still feel her and in another track, My Chasm, he says he talks to her absence. Further proving he’s going through this sort of denial. It’s not a denial about death because he fully understands that he can’t change that and he understands the reality of it.

On this album there’s a lot of acoustic that you can hear. The voice, and the drum and electric guitar you can sometimes hear, is very subtle and I think that makes the album much more impactful. I think the subtle-ness assists the themes throughout the album and is done very well and respectfully. It reminds me of the film Moonlight. As subtle as it is, it still packs that iron fist of emotion and power and this is a fantastic example of that.

I recommend you give this one a listen. Just go into it knowing it’s very slow and depressing but it’s moving and deep.

I’m gonna give this album a 8 or 9 out of ten. If anyone has actually given this a listen I’d love to hear your thoughts. Also if anyone has any recommendations or what they would like me to review next you can comment that as well.

Depending on other reviewers, I’m hoping I can review the new Kendrick Lamar album dropping this Friday and also the new Gorillaz album dropping later this month.