Memory Records - The Glow Pt. 2

"I took my shirt off in the yard. No one saw that the skin on my shoulders was golden. Now it's not, my shirt's back on, the glow is gone..."


It's a dreary rainy day here in Toronto. I feel it's appropriate, given the short interviews I uploaded with Phil Elverum and Memory Tapes to post another memory record. This time I want to talk about "The Glow Pt. 2" by The Microphones, the name for Phil's solo work prior to Mt Eerie.

Released in September 2001, "The Glow Pt. 2" is my favourite Microphones album, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Like "Kid A", which I discussed previously, it has a unique atmosphere, and, similarly, feels incredibly intimate at points. Where latter holds its intimacies close to its chest, however, the former is raw and full of immediate feeling. Part of this is due to the analogue equipment Elverum uses, where every sound is wrapped in warmth and static. It's an album that is very much alive, as symbolized by its repeating heart-beat drum motif and distortion. Like a lot of my favourite music, it's a headphones record.

It's a labour of love in multiple senses. First, literally, as it was reportedly inspired by heart-break (read Elverum's journal, "Dawn" for an insight into this). Second, it's so intricately layered and produced that it must have been meticulously crafted and planned (especially as it wasn't recorded digitally).

When I heard it, it was a revelation of sorts. While I'd always loved lo-fi music, I'd never heard anything so ambitious recorded by one person, on a presumably small budget. It was inspiring, and still is; a cathartic and troubled bedroom record on a grand scale, a universally personal experience.

As I listen to it now, I associate it with several memories:

- When I lived in Aberdeen, Scotland, I always walked home the same route. The final part involved a street on a hill with large looming houses (some of the most expensive in the city) and ominous gardens. There's something bewildering about big houses in the dark, they take on a life of their own. When I listen to this album I don't remember this part of my walk but the street after it that leads up to the intersection thirty seconds walk from my front door. I remember having "The Glow Pt.2" on CDR in the wrong order as a friend had downloaded mp3s from the internet without knowing the track-listing. I'm listening to the first track "I Want Wind To Blow" in the dark. The streets are empty. All the lights in the houses are out. I'm alone.

- My friends used to stay over in Garthdee, an area of Aberdeen around fourty minutes walk from my house. It's close to the river Dee and the surrounding area of trees and grass. A number of the houses are wooden, which is unusual as the majority of the homes in Aberdeen are made from granite. I remember having mushrooms at my friend's place and putting on "The Glow Pt. 2". Sometimes mushrooms have the wonderful effect of accentuating the music you're listening to, and in this instance the organic sound of the music became a part of the trip. I could see the walls pulsate with the rhythm. I became convinced that I was the captain of a ship.