live: Mt. Eerie, Woelv

Last week I made the long trek from Williamsburg – Brooklyn to Greenpoint – Brooklyn to see my favorite power couple in music, Anacortes, WA’s Mt. Eerie ( Phil Elverum ) and Woelv ( Geneviève Castrée ). Presented by local show pusher Todd P at the overwhelmingly appropriate Lutheran Church of the Messiah, I found myself a part of one of the most respectful and quiet crowds EVER!

Now, I know that doesn’t sound incredibly exciting, but when the majority of the evening consists of two singer/songwriters weaving semi-hushed vocals over just a guitar, quiet dudes around you watching becomes a fairly crucial part of the night. When I arrived I was disappointed to find out that I missed a set by last minute add-on and recently bummed out friend of friends; Karl Blau. Karl had just left Anacortes to set out on tour with The Decemberists starting in New York only to find out that day that the tour had been canceled. So naturally, he was invited along to play with his hometown friends at the church that night. That poor news aside, I was in time to see full sets from Woelv and Mt. Eerie. Geneviève has a new album coming out sometime soon on K titled “Tout Seul dans la Forêt en Plein Jour, Avez-Vous Peur?” so much of her live material that night was pulled from that. If you couldn’t guess from the title, all her songs are sung en français. To some this may have been a little frustrating, but she fought that off very well by making things interesting using live vocal loops with layered, often 4 or 5 part melodies, in her performance.

Up next was Mt. Eerie. Phil was on a “book tour” this time around, supporting his new album / art book self released on his self owned Anacortes Imprint, P.W. Elverum and Sun. Priced at a somewhat high, but completely fair rate, many shied away from shelling out the necessary monies to pick up the book, including me. Luckily I was able to find the audio portion here: Mt. Eerie Pts. 6,7. As you can see in the photo ( thanks to elizabeth weinberg ), Phil had a projector set up on the front of the stage playing home made videos of the pacific northwest while he played his songs “stage left”. It was a mix of old and new material, some harking back to “The Microphones” days and some new unreleased Mt. Eerie-er jams. The songs played along with the moving images in the background but fortunately not in a cliché or trite fashion and sometimes beginning and ending unintentionally in unison. Magic.

In not so great news, I found out the other day the remainder of the Mt. Eerie / Woelv tour had been canceled due to a “family emergency.” Best of luck to them and here’s sincerely hoping that it’s nothing too serious.

Ok, so now for pt. 2…

Fast forward a week later and I find myself thanking both a close friend and also indirectly, Phil Elverum, for helping me find my new favorite album. Thomas De Hartmann – The Music of Gurdjieff / De Hartmann. Somewhat out of nowhere, my friend sent me this download recommendation accompanied by the small fact that Phil Elverum samples “Prayer No. 2″ off of the De Hartmann album at the end of one of his older songs, “Antlers”. Now, I know thats way deep and way nerdy, but the point is, I have been wondering where that sample came from for the past 4 years. SLEEPLESS NIGHTS!… Not really, but anyways the added bonus on top of finding the source of the sample is that this collection of De Hartmann recordings is amazing. So if you have been desperately gasping for new classical / minimal piano pieces, like I know you have, then I would highly recommend this 3 disc set.

Wow, that was a lot…

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