• Consequence
  • Music
  • Film
  • TV
  • Heavy
Menu Consequence
Menu Shop Search Newsletter
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Live
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Contest
Advertisement
  • Reviews
  • Album Reviews

Album Review: Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me

A loving tribute and a true testament to the healing power of art

A-

Artists

  • Mount Eerie

Formats

  • digital
  • vinyl
  • cd
Advertisement
David Sackllah
March 13, 2017 | 12:00am ET

    On July 9th, 2016, Geneviève Castree Elverum died a little over a year after being diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. A poet, cartoonist, and musician, she had a rich 15-year career, recording music as Woelv & O Paon, as well as collaborating on multiple Mount Eerie records with her husband, Phil Elverum. Less than a year after her death, Phil Elverum has returned with a new album as Mount Eerie, A Crow Looked at Me, an autobiographical chronicling of the months after her passing, written and recorded using her instruments. Similar to Nick Cave’s 2016 album, The Skeleton Tree, he has crafted a haunting examination of personal loss that confronts that grief head on.

    From the onset, Elverum questions what he’s doing. “Real Death”, the opener and first single, finds him at his most broken, wondering about the purpose of art and poetry when someone you love is gone. It’s the profound sorrow of someone stuck in their head, turning to the only outlet they have, but finding it lacking. “I don’t want to learn anything from this,” he proclaims. With painful honesty, he directly confronts the uncomfortable nature of this project, but forges along. In a statement with the album, Elverum explained: “I made these songs and put them out into the world just to multiply my voice saying that I love her.”

    The framework of the album is a notable approach, as each song sequentially chronicles the passage of time, from the raw immediacy of “Real Death” to the record’s conclusion months later. There are no five stages or clean categorizations, but instead a slow journey to try and find meaning. Does the nearby forest fire represent a cleansing? Are the flowers and birds on the island representative of things Geneviève loved? These are the questions Elverum asks, searching for answers and realizing there might not be any.

    Advertisement
    Related Video

    Throughout a career that has spanned over two decades as both Mount Eerie and The Microphones, Elverum has been instrumental in shaping the landscape of current indie rock. From his early melancholic, lo-fi recordings through his more naturalistic and spiritual later work, he has always exuded deep empathy in his work. He’s never been afraid to expose himself, writing songs about anxiety and depression, but even he wasn’t prepared for the depths he had yet to mine. “Conceptual emptiness was cool to talk about back before I knew my way around these hospitals,” he says on “Emptiness pt. 2”. The pain Elverum feels this time is of a different nature, a sharper wound that drastically changes his frame of reference.

    By serving as a largely real-time snapshot of working through his pain, Elverum spends much of the album focusing on the seemingly mundane details of his life. These simple moments of routine, taking the garbage outside, throwing away an old toothbrush, and shuttering the windows, are infused with profundity as they reveal how death shatters every aspect of life. He focuses on the minutia, the discomfort of well-meaning conversations with acquaintances, discarding of his wife’s clothing, the minutes that take their toll. On “Toothbrush/Trash”, he acknowledges that static pictures of his wife are starting to replace the lively memories in his head as time passes. By drilling down into these specific memories, his anguish becomes more relatable than had he been vague.

    As the months go by and the record winds down, Elverum strives to find peace, looking back to his past. It’s not until the cathartic penultimate track, “Soria Moria”, that the signature Mount-Eerie electric distortion comes into play, albeit faintly. Therein, Elverum remembers the beginning of his relationship, working to bring things full circle. On “Crow”, the final track, the “you” he’s been referring to the whole time switches from his wife to their young daughter. The switch in the object of his verse carries tremendous weight, the first step towards the future.

    Advertisement

    “Death is real,” Elverum proclaims with his first three words on the record. This is a mantra he repeats, a sobering reminder to himself that his world has irreparably changed. In a letter, Elverum explained that this simple phrase could have been the name of the album, but that instead he wanted to focus on that small glimmer of hope. That’s why the last image he leaves the listener with is one of a crow watching him and his daughter on a walk through the woods. After spending months searching for a sign, Elverum found his sliver of peace to begin healing.

    Through emphasizing that image, Elverum offers a way forward. Where the record opens with Elverum questioning the purpose of art in a time of loss, by the end he proves how it can help navigate tremendous tragedies. Not every album should carry that weight on its shoulders, and Elverum will hopefully never have to make one like this again. A Crow Looked at Me stands as a remarkable example of the restorative power of music, an intimate display of love, daring both in concept and execution. Overwhelming and humbling, Elverum’s revelatory work offers a blueprint for others going through similar situations in their own lives, a true testament to the power of art and a loving tribute to Geneviève.

    Essential Tracks: “Real Death”, “Ravens”, “Toothbrush/Trash”, and “Soria Moria”

    Advertisement
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
Advertisement

Artists

  • Mount Eerie
  • Phil Elverum

More on this topic

  • Avant garde
  • Experimental
  • Indie Folk
  • Lo-Fi
  • slowcore

Sign up for updates

Subscribe to our email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.

Advertisement

Popular Stories

armie hammer interview

Film

Armie Hammer Breaks Silence on Abuse Allegations in New Interview

2023 Grammy winners

Music

2023 Grammy Awards Winners List (Updating Live)

Advertisement

Shop for GWAR's Bud of Gods Delta-8 and Sour OG vape cartridges.

Shop for GWAR's Bud of Gods Delta-8 and Sour OG vape cartridges.

SNL Casts Pedro Pascal in Dystopian Mario Kart Parody

TV

SNL Casts Pedro Pascal in Dystopian Mario Kart Parody: Watch

Ozzy Osbourne

Heavy Consequence

2023 Grammys: Ozzy Osbourne Wins Two Awards

Latest Stories

shania twain album review

With Queen of Me, Shania Twain Continues Her Reign as the Ruler of Country-Pop

February 2, 2023

samia honey album review

Samia Is Bracingly Shameless on Honey

January 26, 2023

billy joel the stranger album review classic opus

Billy Joel's The Stranger Made an Icon Out Of the Piano Man: Classic Album Review

December 16, 2022

herbert album review

Herbert, Ab-Soul's First Album in 6 Years, Finds Him Confident, Comfortable and at His Best

December 16, 2022

sza sos new album stream

On SOS, SZA Once Again Blows Expectations Out of the Water

December 9, 2022

rm indigo review

With Indigo, RM Makes Fleeting Moments Feel Permanent

December 2, 2022

brockhampton the family

BROCKHAMPTON's The Family Is a Curiously Tense, One-Sided "Final" Act

November 17, 2022

kings disease iii review

Nas' King’s Disease III Saves the Best for Last

November 11, 2022

Advertisement

News

  • Music
  • New Music
  • Album Streams
  • Upcoming Releases
  • Tours
  • Film
  • TV
  • Pop Culture

Reviews

  • Music Reviews
  • Film Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • Concert Reviews
  • Festival Reviews

Features

  • Editorials
  • Interviews
  • Cover Stories
  • Lists
  • Guides
  • CoSign
  • Song of the Week

Live

  • Tickets
  • Festival News
  • Tour Dates
  • Photo Galleries
  • Music Instruments & Gear

Heavy

  • News
  • Interviews
  • Concerts

More

  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Wellness
  • Giveaways

Other sites

  • Heavy Consequence
  • Consequence Media
  • Modern Drummer
  • About
  • Privacy policy
  • Advertising
  • Work For Us
  • Terms
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Download our app

  • Get it on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitch
  • Tiktok
Consequence
Current story

Album Review: Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me

Menu Shop Search Newsletter
Consequence
News
  • News
  • Music
  • New Music
  • Album Streams
  • Upcoming Releases
  • Tours
  • Film
  • TV
  • Pop Culture
Reviews
  • Music Reviews
  • Film Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • Concert Reviews
  • Festival Reviews
Features
  • All Features
  • Editorials
  • Interviews
  • Cover Stories
  • Lists
  • Guides
  • CoSign
  • Song of the Week
Live
  • Tickets
  • Festival News
  • Tour Dates
  • Photo Galleries
  • Music Instruments & Gear
Podcasts
  • The Opus
  • Kyle Meredith With...
  • Stanning BTS
  • The Story Behind the Song
  • The What
  • Going There with Dr. Mike
  • The Rome and Duddy Show
Videos
  • Interviews
  • Two for the Road
  • First Time I Heard
  • When I Made
  • Battle of the Bandmates
  • Peer 2 Peer
  • Essays
  • Fan Theories
Heavy
  • News
  • Interviews
  • Concerts
  • Premieres
  • Culture
  • Beyond the Boys Club
  • Mining Metal
Shop
  • Shop
  • Giveaways

Follow Consequence

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitch
  • Tiktok
Close
Close