The Microphones were one of the early 2000s most influential and highly-regarded indie outfits. Phil Elverum was always the brain behind The Microphones’ music, and when heading the band he was capable of capturing all sorts of different sounds. Elverum’s last album under The Microphones guise, Mount Eerie, was a conceptual piece that served as a bridge between The Microphones moniker and that of Mount Eerie, which he currently records under. 2009’s Wind’s Poem explored the dark recesses of black metal, showing Elverum’s broad list of tastes and his desire to experiment with new sounds, which he still seems content to do with his latest release.
“House Shape” is from the upcoming Clear Moon, and it’s a mystifying, droney track that seems to at first be quite disorientating, given the thickness of the music and the rather basic looped drums. The track soon opens up with heavy guitars that create an overpoweringly chaotic mood; however, before the two-minute mark the song suddenly makes a tonal change to sound a lot more optimistic, with Elverum’s dreamy vocals seeping through the loud mix of instruments. Percussion carries the track along nicely, complimenting Elverum’s detached vocals and helping them to breeze through the headphones candidly.
“House Shape” is certainly an interesting track, providing something of an insight into the upcoming record. Nevertheless, what the track has in sonic depth it perhaps lacks in replayability; while the song is perhaps part of something larger and certainly succeeds in creating a sombre mood, it’s not an enjoyable listen in the traditional sense, and it’s difficult to feel particularly introspective towards it given the incoherency of the lyrics. “House Shape” is an interesting if limited indication of what we will be seeing on Clear Moon; as long as it’s not an album highlight, it’ll do.
