A Crow Looked at Me | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 24, 2017 | |||
Recorded | August 31 – December 6, 2016 | |||
Studio | Home recording, Anacortes, Washington | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 41:30 | |||
Label | P.W. Elverum & Sun Ltd. | |||
Producer | Phil Elverum | |||
Mount Eerie chronology | ||||
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Mount Eerie studio album chronology | ||||
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Singles from A Crow Looked at Me | ||||
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A Crow Looked at Me is the eighth studio album by Mount Eerie, a solo project of American musician Phil Elverum. It was released on March 24, 2017, on Elverum's record label P.W. Elverum & Sun. It was conceived as a concept album in the aftermath of the death of Elverum's wife, the cartoonist and musician Geneviève Castrée. The album was entirely written and produced by Elverum, and recorded in the room in which Castrée died, mostly using her instruments, and written notes he had compiled about her.
The album departs from Elverum's earlier, more complicated and experimental works, but is musically similar to albums like Lost Wisdom (2008). It features minimal production, sparse instrumentation, and slow, winding melodies. The lyrics are sung in a raw, intimate style, and describe Castrée's illness and death, Elverum's ensuing grief, and his relationship with their newly born child. Elverum planned the record to be a small-scale release, possibly under a different name, but he dismissed both of these ideas. To promote the album, he performed a small concert in a record store, released the singles "Real Death" on January 18, 2017, and "Ravens" on February 15, 2017, and undertook critically acclaimed tours of North America and Europe. A select performance was released as the 2018 live album (after).
A Crow Looked at Me was an immediate and widespread critical success; limited criticism was given to the instrumentation and replayability. It became one of the most acclaimed albums of 2017 and appeared on year-end lists of best records. In the years following its release, the album has become his best-selling, has appeared on multiple decade-end lists, and has been called an important album of the 2010s and of Elverum's career. Some critics found it hard to review the album, given its personal nature. Elverum's subsequent albums Now Only (2018) and Lost Wisdom Pt. 2 (2019) serve as continuations; both are themed around Castrée's illness and death.
Background and composition
"Songs in the future. No reverb. Close and direct. Dense with easy words. Don't rely on hanging emotions or drawn-out notes. Engage the mind's chewing teeth. Say everything as it is. No metaphors. Resist big-picture reflections." An example of Elverum's notes.[1]
![refer to caption](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Phil_Elverum%2C_Genevi%C3%A8ve_Castr%C3%A9e_%28retouch%29.jpg/220px-Phil_Elverum%2C_Genevi%C3%A8ve_Castr%C3%A9e_%28retouch%29.jpg)
Geneviève Castrée, a Canadian cartoonist and musician and the wife of Phil Elverum, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015, four months after the birth of her first child. She died at their home in Anacortes, Washington, on July 9, 2016.[2][3] After Castree's death, Elverum considered retiring from music to become a full-time father, but a trip to Haida Gwaii inspired him to write notes that, along with those he had written during Castrée's illness and treatment, would become the lyrical basis for A Crow Looked at Me.[4][5] Taking inspiration from the Gary Snyder poem "Go Now", Elverum realised he did not have to find meaning in Castrée's death and that he could write songs that describe the experience.[6][7] He also found inspiration in the work of Canadian singer-songwriter Julie Doiron, American poet Joanne Kyger, American rock band Sun Kil Moon, Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgård and American singer-songwriter Will Oldham, whose 1996 album Arise Therefore—in particular its sparse production—influenced A Crow Looked at Me's sound.[8][9][10][11] Elverum felt compelled to make the album because he found that art he once had treasured, such as poetry and philosophy, was ineffective in helping him cope with Castrée's illness.[12]
Elverum recorded A Crow Looked at Me between August 31 and December 6, 2016, at his house in Anacortes, Washington.[3][13] He wrote the songs over a six-week period beginning in September 2016.[4][11] The album was created in 98 days.[14] Elverum wrote the lyrics longhand on Castrée's notepaper and recorded the songs in the art studio of his house, where she died.[15][16] He had earlier abandoned the room, opened its window and allowed nature to take it over.[17] Elverum credits the album's "immediacy" and "bluntness" to him recording it in Castrée's room,[18] and in an interview with KUOW, he noted:
I didn't want the room to feel haunted ... I wanted to live in there and make new life and positivity in that room where I had vivid memories of her final day. I didn't want those final days to be sealed up and define that room or define the house.[16]
Elverum planned to record the album with a live band in a studio but he found that the songs were too personal for others to contribute to, and so chose to play all the instruments himself.[11] Elverum used an acoustic guitar, one microphone, and some of Castrée's instruments.[4][19] He used Castrée's instruments mostly out of convenience, applying little symbolic significance to them.[1] Elverum used minimal production because he wanted to release the album quickly.[20] Elverum recorded the record onto a laptop computer, making A Crow Looked at Me his first album to be produced entirely in this way.[21] Since he had become the primary carer for his daughter, Elverum could typically spend only forty-five minutes a day on songwriting; he would record the songs at night while his daughter was asleep or during times when she was visiting friends.[a][4][23] He described his writing process as writing down the songs first on paper then practising them rigorously until the point at which he knew where each chord was in sequence—a first for him.[24] In an interview, Elverum said he would choose to record over self-care, saying he could either shower or write down ideas that were "bursting" in his head.[25]
The best thing about the past
is that it's over
when you die.
you wake up
from the dream
that's your life.
Then you grow up
and get to be post human
in a past that keeps happening
ahead of you
Joanne Kyger
According to Elverum, the songs "poured out quickly in the fall, [as he] watch[ed] the days grey over and ... the neighbors across the alley tear down and rebuild their house". The artist claimed that most of his initial songwriting notes took the form of a "formless, no-rhythm, no-meter, no-melody blob of words".[26][27] This process was a result of habit, "just doing what I usually do. Which [is] to distill all the mass of words in my head into something a little more poetic and musical."[28] He expressed disbelief that he was able to make an album under the circumstances.[29]
He completed and released the record to "[open] up all the way", to make the intensity of his love for Castrée known and to draw a distinction between art and the "experience of life".[12][27][16] Elverum intended the songs to have a "hyper-intimate" and unrestrained quality, and to be to be philosophical but devoid of symbolism and metaphor, feeling the latter was "cowardly and pointless". He also wished for the songs to be distinct from the more existential themes of his earlier work.[30][31][32][33] Elverum said the style of songwriting he adopted for A Crow Looked at Me was the only method that felt "appropriate" and "real" to him.[31]
The album's cover features a photograph of a piece of paper with the poem "Night Palace" by Castrée's close friend Joanne Kyger printed on it.[b] Castrée had pinned the paper above her desk.[30] When he was cleaning out her room, Elverum realized the poem encapsulated the album's theme.[11] The album's title, according to Elverum, was chosen to represent the "uncomfortable feeling of applying significance to insignificant things".[35]
During its production, the album's working title was "Death is Real"; Elverum chose to not release it under that name because he felt it was not indicative of the album's intended subject matter.[22] While writing the album, Elverum was unsure anyone except himself would ever hear it.[16] Elverum stated he had no goal in mind while creating the album and that instead he was in an "unpremeditated way going with the flow".[12] He has also said he does not view the album as a tribute to Castrée or as being about her. He believed a tribute would be ineffective at capturing who Castrée was. He viewed the album as a frank documentation of his grief with no concern for listener's reactions or feelings.[12][26][22] Elverum found the album's creation to be "therapeutic" and that he felt he was "hanging out" with Castrée during its production; by the end of the process, Elverum claims that he had healed.[24][36]
Music and lyrics
Overview
Elverum describes the songs in a press release as being about "The brutal details of [Castrée's illness and death], from the hospitalizations to the grieving, the specific domestic banalities that become existential in the context of such huge and abrupt loss... they find a love that prevails...in [their] unvarnished expressions of personal grief, metaphor-free."[37]
The lyrics are delivered in a speaking-singing, literal poetic manner, and contain a sense of mysticism.[38][39] The songs' main subject matter is Castrée's illness and death, Elverum's ensuing grief and the idea there is nothing to learn or to gain from death.[40][41][42] Themes of impermanence, emptiness, disorientation, and the absurdity of performing intimate material in public while pretending otherwise are also present.[4][29][41][43] The work's exploration of death has been compared to The Antler's Hospice, David Bowie's Blackstar and Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell; although A Crow Looked at Me focuses more on the grieving process and its mundane aspects than these albums.[44]
Many of the lyrics reference nature.[41] One reviewer said "tragedy hasn't stopped [Elverum] from noticing the world; if anything, it seems to have pried his eyes open for good".[45] Throughout, Elverum returns to motifs such as his house—in particular, the room where Castrée died—and the minutiae of his life.[19][46] He intended the album to "correct" his previous works, which use death as a theme but in which Elverum is detached from the reality of it.[33]
The words take the form of a diary; Elverum intended each song to reflect a time in his grieving process and to specific events and dates. He said, "each song is anchored to a very specific moment".[1] Thomas Britt of PopMatters highlighted this element for comment, saying it showcases the impact of death on daily life.[41] Each song, except for the final song "Crow"—which is addressed to the couple's daughter, whose role on the album is almost that of a second protagonist—refers to Castrée although she is never directly named.[46][47][48] Elverum frequently uses pronouns such as "our" when referring to Castrée.[15] At times, dark humor is used.[49]
According to The New Yorker's Peter Baker, the album's lyrics combine "emotional intimacy and tonal frankness to a degree rarely heard in contemporary music".[50] Eric Zavada of Berklee Online said the songwriting breaks the fourth wall[51] while The New York Times's Jon Caramanica said "songwriting seems almost too precise a term" because "the line is blurred between singing, speaking and raw emotional data dump".[42] The Guardian's Brigid Delaney wrote that the album is more comparable to "a traditional lament" than to popular pieces of music about death such as Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven or Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' Skeleton Tree.[52]
The album's music is reminiscent of Elverum's 2008 albums Dawn and Lost Wisdom;[53] its songs avoid standard musical structures and have sparse instrumentation, a drum machine producing a hiss-like sound, acoustic guitar, chord changes, an absence of choruses, unorthodox verse structure[54] and "barely any melodies".[55][54][56][57][58] The album's melodies are slow and expand as the songs proceed.[59] Lasting less than four minutes on average, the songs are short and typically end abruptly, avoiding codas and fade outs.[60][61] They also include unresolved notes and chords' the ending of "Seaweed" hangs on a half-step descent major chord.[56][62]
The simplicity of the songs reflects Elverum's wish to move away from his earlier, more "artistically challenging" work,[40] which is characterized by "harsh tones" and "complicated chords".[26] Jayson Greene of Pitchfork compared the contrast to Elverum's erlier work as similar to "the difference between charting a voyage around the earth and undertaking it".[4] Elverum himself described its sparseness as "barely music".[45]
Tracks 1–7
The monotone spoken-word vocals on the opening track "Real Death" are sung in basic rhyming patterns, and are accompanied by piano, electric guitar and drums, producing a hiss-like sound.[59][63][64][65][66] The song describes Elverum's experiences in the weeks after Castrée's death.[67] The track's opening lyrics, "death is real," appears throughout the record.[42][55] The song also states the album is not an artistic statement; the lyrics are, "it's [death] not for singing about / It's not for making into art". Elverum said although the album is art, the line is about "the difference between the idea of a thing and the actual lived experience of it",[65] and that this line as an example of him "joking around".[29]
In "Seaweed", Elverum describes the scattering of Castrée's ashes, his trip to Haida Gwaii with their daughter a month after Castrée's death,[68] and the fear of forgetting of the small details of Castrée's life.[64][69] He also comments on the significance of foxgloves and a group of Canada geese he saw on a beach, and whether Castrée liked them.[70] Elverum said in an interview he wrote the first version of the song during a hike with his daughter and he recorded the basic outline of it using his cellphone.[24] The song includes guitar plucking, dissonant piano and bass guitar parts.[59][63] In the song, Elverum portrays nature as a "place of solace and refuge".[71] It also introduces the themes of Castrée's "spiritual omnipresence", her survival through their daughter and Elverum remembrance of her beyond the physical; immortalizing her as a sunset rather than as ashes.[c][55][72]
"Ravens" describes an incident during Castrée's final days, when Elverum saw two ravens and interpreted them as an omen but was unsure of its meaning. He has expressed a regret of having to repeatedly describe and sing about Castrée's final days.[73] The song was inspired by Elverum's trip to Hadai Gwaii, his illness during the trip and the presence of ravens in the area.[74] "Ravens"—and "Soria Moria"—stand apart from the other songs due to the use of multiple changes of tempo.[63] "Ravens" has been described as the album's centerpiece; it features acoustic guitar, piano, and percussion accompaniment.[75][76] It is structured in a manner more like a letter than a traditional song and includes a sound resembling that of an oxygen concentrator.[77]
"Forest Fire" explores Elverum's feelings about death, decay and the absurdity of the world around him.[78] He apologizes to Castrée for attempting to move on and for going through her possessions.[40][79] He also mentions a moment in which he closed the windows he had left open in the hope Castrée would somehow return through them,[66] as well as the nearby refineries that were a common motif in Castrée's art.[22][78] The fire represents a sort of "cleansing" but it is unclear what is being cleansed.[19] In the song, Elverum says he "rejects nature";[70] he said the line is an acknowledgement of the natural process of death and a protest against it rather than outright rejection.[24] "Swims" details Elverum's experience of grief counseling and the sudden death of his counselor.[53] It features raw singing, minimal guitars, simple piano chords and bass guitar.[63][53]
"My Chasm" describes Elverum's isolation from his friends[80] and his difficulty talking about his loss in public.[27] The song was inspired by a dinner Elverum had at a friend's house.[22] It features electronic instrumentation with piano accompaniment.[63] His vocal performance was described as having an "identifiable pain" which is almost palpable.[63] It concludes with the recurring phrase "death is real".[81] "When I Take the Garbage Out At Night" invokes mundane imagery; one writer compared the song to Sun Kil Moon's album Benji.[38] In the song, Elverum reconnects with the universe, accepting Castrée must live somewhere in it.[82]
Tracks 8–11
"Emptiness pt. 2" explores the idea of "conceptual emptiness",[3] a reference to Elverum's song "Emptiness" from his 2015 album Sauna.[51] At one point in the track, Elverum sings "Your absence is a scream", with the word scream deliberately drawn out. Greene compared this moment to self-harm.[4] Britt wrote that its introspection makes previous dark, brooding notions in Elverum's work seem enjoyable by comparison.[41]
Elverum examins his fading memories of Castrée and the way objects such as toothbrushes, trashcans, and photographs are taking their place in "Toothbrush/Trash".[66][83] He also ponders whether a fly in his room could be Castrée reincarnated.[66] Musically, it includes the sound of a door suddenly closing, which was recorded by Elverum using a drum kit; the track additionally contains piano, acoustic guitar and a slow drum machine.[39][66][84]
![Painting of young boy looking over a purple ravine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Theodor_Kittelsen%2C_Soria_Moria.jpg/220px-Theodor_Kittelsen%2C_Soria_Moria.jpg)
"Soria Moria" takes its name from the eponymous painting by Theodor Kittelsen, and incorporates elements of black metal[55] and details Elverum's relationship with Castrée and references time he spent in a Norwegian cabin, where he wrote Dawn, taking a lyrical motif from that album and from The Glow Pt. 2.[66][85] "Soria Moria"'s lyrics detail the painting; Elverum finds solidarity in its figure, who overlooks a chasm. It discusses Elverum and his daughter moving on with their lives.[28][66] "Soria Moria" is the only song to have anything that resembles a refrain. Musically, it is reminiscent of his 2009 album Wind's Poem.[53] Britt described the song and its use of natural imagery as "one of the most vivid illustrations of Walter Benjamin's concept of 'aura'."[41][d] A live version of the song was used as the lead single for Elverum's 2018 live album (after).[87]
The final song "Crow" is addressed to Elverum's daughter; and detsils a hiking trip in the Pacific Northwest during which a crow followed them.[24][42] "Crow" was the final song to be written and was not intended to be included on the album. Elverum decided to include the song to reflect world events at the time. It is the only song that refers to events beyond Elverum's life; he describes the world as "[s]moldering and fascist", referring to the 2016 United States presidential election.[24] The crow is used in the song as a symbol of death's encompassing grasp and as a personification of Castrée.[88][89] The thematic throughlines of the album are concluded in the final lyrics; "And there she was".[53][82]
Release and promotion
![Cornerside record store.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Anacortes_-_Platt_Building_01A.jpg/220px-Anacortes_-_Platt_Building_01A.jpg)
Elverum seriously considered not releasing the album.[1] He had originally planned a small-scale release on his website, but as the album took shape he felt it was good and wanted it to reach a wider audience.[90] On release, the album was promoted as being "gross and weird from a lot of perspectives".[1] On January 6, 2017, he announced he would tour and release the new album.[91] The next day, he played his first concert since September 2014 at The Business, a record store in Anacortes, Washington.[92] He played the album in its entirety during the concert's 45 minutes.[93] Due to overwhelming response and limited venue capacity of just 50 people, Elverum had ask that fans stay away.[94] He performed the show in a corner of the room with his eyes closed and left immediately afterwards.[92][95] The show was noticeably sparse; Elverum did not use a microphone or any amplification, and played only his acoustic guitar.[92] Music critic Eric Grandy described the show as "heavy and awkward and weird" and said that it "felt supportive and cathartic and necessary", taking into account the crowd's emotional reaction to the material.[92]
"Crow", the first track to be released, appeared on a charity album entitled Is There Another Language? on January 20, 2017.[96] "Real Death" was the album's opening single, released on SoundCloud on January 25, 2017,[8] to widespread acclaim, and was named "Best New Track" by Pitchfork[97] and appearing on The Fader's list of "13 Songs You Need In Your Life This Week" list[98] and Stereogum's list of the five best song of the week.[99] Both Complex and Pitchfork included it on their lists of the best songs of the month.[100][101] The A.V. Club included it on their list entitled "The A.V. Club’s songs of the summer 2017 for indoor kids".[102]
The second single, "Ravens", was released on February 15, 2017, along with a music video that was uploaded to Mount Eerie's official YouTube account.[103] The video consists of camcorder recordings of Elverum and Castrée,[103] and natural landscapes.[104] It again earned the "Best New Track" distinction from Pitchfork[105] and appeared on their list of the best songs of the month.[106] "Ravens" was ranked number 1 on Stereogum's list of the 5 best song of the week.[107] Elverum did several interviews,[e] which he found to be "mentally draining" and said he treated them as pseudo-therapy sessions, noting they were different from a typical public relations campaign.[73]
Writing for Sputnikmusic, Rristan Jones said; "One of the most common sentiments in the weeks leading up to A Crow Looked At Me's release [was] one of apprehension; fans of Mount Eerie [didn't] seem to want to hear Phil Elverum's newest effort, at least not in a conventionally excited way".[72]
Tour and live performances
In April 2017, following the release of the album, Elverum embarked on a short North American tour,[103] which was followed by another in September 2017. At the shows, which were held in intimate venues that included concert halls, churches, and theaters, he was accompanied only by his acoustic guitar.[108] Elverum omitted some songs from the album because he found them to be too emotional to play.[50][109] He also played songs then unreleased, such as the title track from his following album Now Only.[110] The tour was extended to include Europe in November 2017.[111] While performing at the Jacobikerk church as part of Le Guess Who? festival in Utrecht, a sound engineer recorded Elverum's set without his knowledge. Elverum liked the recording so much it was released in 2018 as a live album titled (after).[112] On September 12, 2017, Elverum performed "Ravens", "When I Take Out The Garbage At Night" and "Soria Moria" in the New York office of Stereogum.[113]
The April and September-to-November tours were well received. Critics praised the shows' intimate nature and some described it as of one of the most meaningful and memorable concerts they had seen.[114] Pitchfork writer Quinn Moreland named the show at Christ Church Cathedral as her favorite of 2017, describing the concert as "a wake—a spiritual sensation that was amplified by the venue, a temple".[115] Elverum's Le Guess Who? performance was selected as one of the best by Consequence of Sound.[116] His show at Chicago's Thalia Hall was highlighted for consideration by Chicago magazine.[117] NPR selected the concert at Hollywood Forever Cemetery as an "essential" gig of the first half of 2017.[118]
Elverum was initially hesitant to play the songs live but he found confidence in the positive reception he received from playing them to friends and family who were directly affected by Castrée's illness.[119] Elverum felt the personal nature of the songs made touring them difficult, particularly when he played to people who knew Castrée.[26][120] Elverum would typically perform in a detached, vulnerable manner and on occasion apologize for being visibly emotional.[110][121][122] He viewed the shows as "re-enacting a trauma and charging people money for it" and criticized the sense of voyeurism the audience partook in,[26] although he said audiences at the shows helped him overcome his fear of performing and that he would probably partake in a similar show performed by another artist, saying "it's hard to look away from a car accident".[43][119] A Crow Looked at Me marked a shift in Elverum's audience with more elderly attendants than before.[123]
Packaging
Physical copies of the album come with notes that explain each song's conception and a double-sided poster detailing the literary references on the album.[11][1][124]
Reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 8.8/10[125] |
Metacritic | 93/100[126] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The A.V. Club | A−[127] |
Consequence of Sound | A−[19] |
Exclaim! | 9/10[89] |
Mojo | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Paste | 9.2/10[129] |
Pitchfork | 9.0/10[45] |
PopMatters | 10/10[41] |
Uncut | 9/10[130] |
Vice (Expert Witness) | A[131] |
A Crow Looked at Me received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. On Metacritic, a review-aggregator website that assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album received an average score of 93 based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[126] Aggregator Album of the Year gave it a score of 91, based on 18 reviews, while AnyDecentMusic? gave A Crow Looked At Me 8.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[125][132] It received more attention than any previous Mount Eerie or the Microphones album, including Elverum's 2001 cult classic The Glow Pt. 2, and earned some of the best reviews of Elverum's career.[7][133] Since its release, the album has been viewed as a critical breakthrough and the peak of Elverum's critical acclaim.[134][135] It was overall one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2017.[136] The album is Elverum's best-selling.[123] Elverum found the album's reception "reaffirming" but "strange and absurd"; he was frustrated by those who viewed it as a tribute to Castrée and felt uneasy about the album being public at all,[6][12][119] once commenting; "Isn’t that fucked up? I scream, ‘Death is real,’ and you clap."[44]
Heather Phares from AllMusic and Ben Malkin of GIGsoup remarked on the album's sense of purity; Malkin described it as "art in its most pure, human form".[55][81] Consequence of Sound's David Sackllah wrote that it is "overwhelming and humbling" and "a remarkable example of the restorative power of music, an intimate display of love, daring both in concept and execution".[19] Tom Breihan ended his review for Stereogum by expressing gratitude to Elverum for the impact and influence the album had on him.[57] In his review for Spectrum Culture, John Paul wrote favourably of Elverum's intimate handling of death, which "ultimately proves highly affecting".[38] Sean Nelson of The Stranger, called A Crow Looked at Me "an astonishing artistic and human achievement".[137]
Lars Gotrich of NPR complimented Elverum's guitar playing and vocal performance.[53] Writing for Now Toronto, Sarah Greene commended the album's "delicate" instrumentation.[3] Tristan Jones described the lo-fi aesthetic as an "essential" decision, without which he believed would leave the album "significantly less special".[72] Mathew Smith, in his review for No Ripcord, applauded its emotive effect but said the instrumentation "may prove too one-dimensional and bare for many" and that "it seem as though Elverum wrote enough of the music to fit around the lyrics and then turned his focus elsewhere, leaving abrupt endings and some songs sounding a little too thin. There’s enough variety to last the album’s duration, but it is unlikely to be an album that will reward repeated listens."[138] Michael Hann in a review published by The Guardian called the style adopted "functional...sufficiently mannered that it’s not really a question of whether it’s good or not... It’s desperate and compelling; it’s also hard to imagine wanting to experience it too often."[139]
Brian Roesler of Treblezine enjoyed the record but said; "Don't call it art. Don't call it music even. Call it a documentation of suffering and loss as an experience, and treat it as such."[63][f] In an article written for The Spinoff, Murdoch Stephens compared A Crow Looked At Me to the poetry of Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi and pondered the way the listener should interact with a piece of art of such a visceral nature. The article called Elverum "the saddest musician in the world",[140] a title Elverum denounced, calling it absurd and saying he sought to inject beauty into the record.[6]
Some reviewers found it a difficult album to review. Aaron Badgley of The Spill Magazine and Jochan Embley of The Independent said that it was strange to praise an album that earnestly details someone's grieving process.[80][110] Multiple reviewers declined to rate the album, with one saying doing so would be "reductive" and "almost insulting".[77][138][141] Marvin Lin from Tiny Mix Tapes scored the album but said his rating means "absolutely nothing".[15] Britt called the album a "masterpiece" but noted it goes beyond "the limits of conventional music criticism".[41] Michael Hann and Paste's Matt Fink shared similar sentiments.[139][129] Lucas Koprowski from Atwood Magazine said analysis of the album is disrespectful and forces the reader to agree with his interpretation; which he objected to.[142]
Accolades
A Crow Looked at Me appeared on numerous year-end lists.[143] The Daily Beast and Now ranked it second,[144][145] third by The New York Times and Vulture,[146][147] sixth by The Atlantic,[148] eighth by Consequence of Sound,[149] ninth by Paste,[150] and tenth by Stereogum.[151] It was also ranked one of the best albums of the decade by several publications:[152] such as Consequence Of Sound,[153] Noisey,[154] Pitchfork,[155] Portland Mercury,[156] Spin,[157] Stereogum,[158] Tiny Mix Tapes,[159] and Vice.[160] Robert Christgau also included it on his list.[161] AllMusic and The Wall Street Journal included it in their decade retrospectives.[162][163] It was featured sarcastically on The Onion's list of the best albums of the decade.[164] According to the Seattle Metropolitan, A Crow Looked At Me was the "Seattle Album" to make the most national best-of-the-decade lists.[165]
"It was absurd to me when [A Crow Looked at Me] was on all these critics' lists compared and ranked next to other people's albums about other things. It feels like it's off in its own universe."[43]
Phil Elverum
Metacritic, which collates album reviews, named it the second-best-reviewed album of 2017,[143] the seventh-best-reviewed album of the decade[152][g] and the sixteenth-best-reviewed album of all time.[166][h] Acclaimed Music, named it the eleventh-most critically acclaimed album of 2017.[168][i] The album is the eleventh-highest-rated album on AnyDecentMusic?.[170]
The album and a number of its songs have appeared on other lists by music publications. Jacob Nierenberg writing for Treblezine listed it as one of the "10 Essential Home-Recorded Albums".[171] Donovan Farley of Willamette Week chose "Real Death" as one of Elverum's "essential" songs; Morgan Enos chose "Swims" in his ranking of Elverum's essential songs for Billboard.[172][173] Ian Gromley of Exclaim! chose A Crow Looked At Me as one of Elverum's essential albums.[7]
Legacy
A Crow Looked at Me is seen as an important albums of the 2010s. Leah B. Levinson, in a year-end retrospect for Exclaim!, called it "career-defining".[174] Ben Hansen of Happy Mag and Thomas Britt of PopMatters viewed it as the peak of the Mount Eerie project and of "Elverum's longtime preoccupations with shapes and void, with nature and death", respectively.[175][176] Britt also called it "one of the most remarkable folk albums ever produced."[176] Adam Nizum described it in Paste as "historic".[177] Frank Falisi of TinyMixTapes cited it as an album of the 2010s which "[redefined] the understanding of popular music."[178] While both The Guardian's John Robinson and Craig Jenkins of Vulture, highlighted it as an example of a new personal style of songwriting emerging by the time of its release.[179][180]
Fellow artists have praised A Crow Looked at Me. American rapper Danny Brown called the album his favorite of 2017.[181] Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast chose it as one of the five albums that changed her life and said it helped her cope with the death of her mother.[182] Gilles Demolder of black metal band Oathbreaker praised the album, looking to it for inspiration and crediting it with helping him see "acoustic guitar and words can be so much heavier than anything I've heard before".[183]
Elverum's subsequent albums Now Only (2018) and Lost Wisdom Pt. 2 (2019) serve as continuations of A Crow Looked at Me, whose success is discussed on Now Only, which Elverum described as "part two". The three albums form an trilogy that centers on the birth of Elverum's daughter and the death of Castrée.[29][119][184][185]
Track listing
All tracks are written and produced by Phil Elverum.[141][186]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Real Death" | 2:27 |
2. | "Seaweed" | 3:01 |
3. | "Ravens" | 6:39 |
4. | "Forest Fire" | 4:15 |
5. | "Swims" | 4:07 |
6. | "My Chasm" | 2:22 |
7. | "When I Take Out the Garbage at Night" | 2:25 |
8. | "Emptiness pt. 2" | 3:28 |
9. | "Toothbrush/Trash" | 3:52 |
10. | "Soria Moria" | 6:33 |
11. | "Crow" | 2:21 |
Total length: | 41:30 |
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes and Cult MTL.[12][187]
- Phil Elverum – songwriting, vocals, production, acoustic and electric guitar, drum machine, bass guitar, piano, accordion
- John Golden – mastering, lacquer cut
- Joanne Kyger – poem
Release history
Region | Label | Format | Category | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | P. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd. | Double LP, Digital Download | ELV040 | [124] |
Japan | P. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd. | CD | EPCD101 |
Notes
- ^ Elverum recorded some of the songs with her sleeping 10 feet away.[22]
- ^ Kyger died of lung cancer two days before the album's release.[30][34]
- ^ Elverum also remembers her as a foxglove in Haida Gwaii and as a fly in his house.[40]
- ^ Used in his 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. The Aura, as defined by the Tate Institute, is "a quality integral to an artwork that cannot be communicated through mechanical reproduction techniques – such as photography".[86]
- ^ Elverum once gave five interviews in one day.[73]
- ^ A sentiment echoed by Elverum himself.[45]
- ^ Its appearance on the list made it the highest rated folk album of the decade.[152]
- ^ When including reissues the number becomes one hundred.[167]
- ^ The tenth-highest ranking for an indie folk album.[169]
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[Elverum] plays and sings with such softness and space that you can hear the hum of his monitors as he does so.
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[It was] something truly remarkable, truly honest and something that those in attendance are unlikely ever to see again.
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[It was] one of the most memorable performances [I had seen.]
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painfullly intimate,
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Seeing Phil live was one of the most unique, serene and emotionally impactful concert experiences I have had, and probably will ever have.
- Alger, Anna (August 19, 2017). "Mount Eerie / Nicholas Krgovich Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver BC, August 18". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
The intimacy of Elverum's offering at Christ Church Cathedral was welcomed.
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we feel privileged to be present for such an intimate and astute study [that] no one at St Luke's tonight will forget the evening we shared.
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{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
External links
- A Crow Looked at Me at Discogs (list of releases)