Mount Eerie

There’s some band names that just seem to fit the music that they’re associated with, and Mount Eerie is one of them; well, to be pedantic about it, it’s not a band per se, but a one-man affair, being the stage name of Phil Elverum from Anacortes, Washington. Over the course of the past decade or so, Elverum has been turning out records that might lack polish and sheen, but make up for them in terms of sheer emotional power and the intelligence of his songwriting. This is something that’s really illuminated when he makes it to the stage; take his set at the Jeff Mangum-curated ATP festival a couple of years back, where he played solo with just an acoustic guitar and delivered a career-spanning slot that was almost hypnotic in its profundity; Elverum really comes across as if he’s singing these songs, and strumming that six-string, straight from the soul. He’s an unusual talent, and one that really has to be seen to be properly understood; opportunities are fairly frequent, thanks to his prodigious work rate.

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, better known by just her first name Mirah, may not seem like a unique artist, but her voice and style put her in a world of her own. I was instantly hooked on her music when her song “The Garden “ on the show “So You Think You Can Dance.” Since I was absolutely obsessed with the song for such a long time, I finally decided to see her live set. It was not what I expected; in fact, it was much better than I expected.
She played at South By Southwest this year, and I made sure to catch her set. It was really different from what I expected because it was a bit mellower than I knew some of her songs to be. Accompanying her and her guitar was also a drummer and violinist. She played songs from her entire repertoire including “Gold Rush,” which was the first time I had heard the song, and it was absolutely beautiful with the live violin. I was also really excited to hear “The Garden” live too, in which during the intro she introduced her band. The live version had a faster pace, and was much more energetic. Instead of an electronic sound, they used all kinds of percussion instruments to supplement the song, which gave it much more depth. Definitely a great artist to have caught live.