page_title: Phil Elverum
section_title: Music career
hierarchical_section_title: Phil Elverum / Music career
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of Dub Narcotic Studio
context_page_description: Phil Elverum is an American songwriter, producer and visual artist, best known for his musical projects The Microphones and Mount Eerie. Based in Anacortes, Washington, in the mid-2000s he began to spell his surname Elvrum as "Elverum."
context_section_description: Elverum is best known for having recorded and performed prolifically under the band names the Microphones (1996–2003, 2019–present) and Mount Eerie (2003–present). While the projects are distinct, Elverum views them as "one progression" stating that his goal to make a varying body of work with a cohesive theme running through it. In 2019 The National reported that Elverum had created 40-plus albums. He uses mostly analog recording equipment and often works in his own studio spaces, where he has the time and freedom to experiment with sounds. In 2012, he helped establish a studio and venue called "The Unknown" at a disused church in his hometown of Anacortes, Washington. In 2004, Elverum created the label P. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd., through which he has released records by Mount Eerie and The Microphones, as well as The Spectacle, Thanksgiving, Woelv, Nicholas Krgovich, Key Losers and Wyrd Visions. Prior to this, he was closely linked to K Records, working with artists like Mirah, Kyle Field, Karl Blau, Calvin Johnson and the Blow. Although his releases from that time, while influenced by the sense of community, were primarily made by himself. Elverum personally prints, packages, and ships his own vinyl and merchandise. As well as creating all of the visual art for his musical releases.
  Elverum has also worked in other bands, been a producer for other artists and released music under different names. In 1996 he joined D+ as the drummer. That same year, Elverum released a cassette under the title X-Ray Means Woman. In 1998 he would become the drummer for Old Time Relijun until 2002. In 2000, Elverum produced Mirah's debut, You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This. He would go on to produce her next three records as well as performing on The Old Days Feeling. His production credits would extend to 2004, when he produced Adrian Orange's Thanksgiving and Castrée's Pamplemoussi. Castrée's next album would also have Elverum's involvement.
  His musical influences include Eric's Trip, Will Oldham, Björk, Nirvana, Popol Vuh, Sunn O))), Angelo Badalamenti, Tori Amos, The Cranberries, Sinead O'Connor, Red House Painters, Sonic Youth, This Mortal Coil and Stereolab. Both Eric's Trip and Stereolab, in particular, were important to Elverum. A self-described fan of Eric's Trip, he's called Julie Doiron his favourite singer and stated that meeting and playing shows with her "was a dream come true." He also recalled how he would send fan mail to the band. In the song "Microphones in 2020", he described seeing Stereolab perform "one chord for fifteen minutes" in a show at Bellingham, Washington and stating that "something in me shifted" and that "I brought home belief that I could create eternity."
  In a 2014 interview, Elverum discussed how he would almost always compose songs as he records them. With songs created outside of a studio setting usually recorded in the coming days. In that same interview, Elverum talked about his desire to record music that was "deep sounding enough that a listener could potentially inhabit the world of sound totally."
  Under both Mount Eerie and the Microphones he has made multiple versions and sequels to his songs, such as demos or Auto-Tuned re-recordings and condensed albums. Common themes and motifs in his work include the moon, nature, health, relationships, the human condition, impermanence, the fleetingness of life and technology.
caption: Dub Narcotic Studio seen in 2013.
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