Black Forest

No Flashlight - Songs of the Fulfilled Night
Mount Eerie
Artschool Dropout, 2004
8.6/10

I'm new to all things Phil Elvrum. I've never heard of The Microphones, and No Flashlight is my first trek up Mount Eerie, but listening to No Flashlight I imagine it to be something similar to the place on the album's cover - cold, dark and haunted, but not that far away from the city and all it's trappings.

The first thing that struck me about this album is how quiet it is. Much of the album is made up of softly strummed guitar and a steady, gentle beat, with waves of synth washing over but never overpowering. Elvrum's vocals are fragile and unforced - it's as if we're listening to his thoughts as he walks into the forest, away from ... well, whatever the hell it is he's walking away from. And there's definitely something out there, as it catches up to him at the start of the beautiful I Hold Nothing, then disappears, returning in the form of the abraisive The Moan.

But the best bits of No Flashlight aren't necessarily individual tracks (though, for the sake of this review, I Know No One, What I Actually Am and the (2 Lakes)/(2 Mountains) suite are worth skipping to), but the gentle, dreamlike fade between them.

I think Mount Eerie has released a couple of EPs since No Flashlight (there was one earlier this year, Black Wooden Ceiling Opening - a bit heavier than this, but well worth checking out) and he has an album coming out later in 2008. Should be good.