Legendary indie rock experimenters The Microphones perform one last time

In the finale of The Microphones’ 44-minute magnum opus, “The Microphones in 2020,” Phil Elverum softly whispers, “There’s no end.”

Since the song charts the rise and resurrection of The Microphones – Elverum’s recording project specializing in a seductive combination of frail folk musings and violent outbursts of white noise – this coda could mean the band will get yet another incarnation. .

The Microphones was formed in 1996 when Elverum was a teenager and the recording project has been used for some of his most beloved creations, including 2001’s climax, “The Glow Pt. 2.” He put the group ended in 2003 and occasionally revived the moniker for live performances, but for almost two years he avoided releasing music under the name – that is, until the single “Microphones in 2020 “.

Despite the hints of rebirth in the song, Elverum insists he finally unequivocally puts the microphones to bed and closes this chapter with a series of farewell performances.

“The idea was to put that on the shelf and shut it down,” said Elverum, who will play two microphone shows at Swedish American Hall on February 23 as part of the Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival. “The idea of ​​Microphones in 2020 was just to be a punctuation mark, a way to look back, investigate and end it.”

If “Microphones in 2020” is indeed a final look back, it will represent a much-loved treasure for the band’s fans and a dramatic conclusion to a revered company. Elverum takes the listener on an encyclopedic musical journey, describing the wonder they felt listening to artists like Sonic Youth, Red House Painters and Tori Amos – and seeing post-rock band Stereolab play a single note for 15 minutes in a row.

In this journey of songs, there are sweet interludes, capturing memories of driving in the rain from her parents’ house and lounging in a smoky driftwood fire. This ‘portrait of the artist as a young man’ approach reveals the Microphones’ early creative process as well as Elverum’s epiphany to end the band in a remote cave in northern Norway.

Elverum said the urge to revisit The Microphones and write an original song was partly prompted by the brief revival of the What the Heck Festival, an annual gathering in his hometown of Anacortes, Washington, that once served showcase to his group. The 2019 rendition featured Elverum’s closest musical companions from the Pacific Northwest and inspired him to reboot The Microphones, while also raising the question of what the project would look like.

“It was this interesting exploration, kind of getting into this old costume of 20 years ago,” said Elverum, who will perform “Microphones in 2020” (and only this song) for his concerts alongside guitarist Jay Blackinton. “I wanted to play as The Microphones, but I didn’t want to play old songs. The idea was to write a new song with an old mode, but I didn’t have a master plan. I was just wondering, who is this 23 year old kid? What is it made of? And then I kept writing and writing from there.

That Elverum probes his young and not-so-young psyche should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with his work. In 2018 and 2019, Elverum released ‘A Crow Looked at Me’ and ‘Now Only’, two albums which explored in devastating detail the aftermath of his wife’s sudden death. Released under his signature Mt. Eerie, the albums offer poetic glimpses of the heartbreak and grief faced by Elverum and his young daughter. Elverum said he wanted to write about something other than the death of his wifebut that he had to stay true to himself, and ignoring that pain would be wrong.

Now, six years later, Elverum said his wife’s death is “not the first thing he thinks about in the morning. …I’ve written two pretty deep albums about her and my experience with death and loss. And that seems like a lot. So, I felt it was time to write about something else. And so yeah, I guess I ended up singing about myself.

The painstaking attention to detail he brought to these two albums as Mt. Eerie is reflected in “The Microphones in 2020”, a song that is ultimately a celebration of self-reflection and acceptance. self.

Elverum knows the past will never leave us, but with the completion of this project, it turns its attention to the future.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO:

The microphones

Or: Swedish American Hall, 2174 Market Street, SF.

When: 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., Wednesday, February 23

Tickets: $27.50

Contact: noisepopfest.com