After the release of
the Microphones' 2003 album,
Mount Eerie, Washington state songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer
Phil Elverum took that title as the name of his subsequent project, which expanded on the searching feel of
the Microphones' music. He founded the label P.W. Elverum and Sun Ltd., releasing a pair of CD-Rs, Seven New Songs of Mt. Eerie and Mt. Eerie Dances with Wolves/Wolf Mountain Howls in the World in 2004 before
Mount Eerie's debut album, No Flashlight, became the label's first official
Mount Eerie release in 2005. A CD/LP set with a poster that holds the record for the world's largest album cover, No Flashlight set the tone for
Mount Eerie's further, intricately packaged releases, which were prolific; they included
The Drums from No Flashlight, Singers (which featured different vocalists singing
Elverum's songs), and the electronic-tinged 11 Old Songs of Mount Eerie, all of which also arrived in 2005.
A
Microphones single, Don't Smoke/Get Off the Internet, and Mount Eerie, Pts. 6 & 7, a picture disc and book of photographs (and sequel to the
Microphones album that started it all) and the
Latitudes Series offering Black Wooden were issued in 2007. Released in 2008, the Black Wooden Ceiling Opening EP introduced
Elverum's concept of playing "black metal with natural materials" and featured a different version of "Don't Smoke." Later that year, the concert DVD Fog Movies Live and a split single with
No Kids preceded
Lost Wisdom, a collaboration with
Eric's Trip and
Broken Girl singer
Julie Doiron and guitarist
Fred Squire.
Dawn, a journal/CD set written during
Elverum's stay in Norway in late 2002/early 2003, arrived in spring 2009, while a full-length of new material, the ambient and black metal-inspired
Wind's Poem, was released that summer.
Elverum maintained the flurry of activity with White Stag, a CD-R recorded in Portland, Oregon, and 2010's singles compilation Song Islands, Vol. 2.
Mount Eerie resurfaced in 2012 with a two-album concept project: Clear Moon, which was recorded in a de-sanctified church, arrived in May, while Ocean's Roar followed that September.
–
Heather Phares, Rovi