Early Tapes: 1996-1998

So much lore surrounds the work of Phil Elverum that it’s very easy to let the stories overwhelm the music. Even worse, it sometimes becomes hard to remember that the person behind Mount Eerie and the Microphones didn’t just emerge from the earth with a fully formed identity and sound ready to go. This is what makes Early Tapes 1996–1998 such a fascinating listen. Here we see an ethos being born in real time; we hear experiments with panning guitars from one ear to the next, overlapping vocal lines with different lyrics, and plenty of distorted bass. All known elements of Elverum’s sound are laid bare here as we’re allowed to witness the joy of creation, firsthand, in all its ragged glory.