Microphones in 2020

Microphones in 2020 is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band the Microphones, released on August 7, 2020.[2] It is the first Microphones' release in 17 years, following 2003's Mount Eerie, and comprises one, 44-minute song. The release follows musician Phil Elverum's 2019 return to the Microphones as a musical project in live performance.[3]

Microphones in 2020
Studio album by
the Microphones
ReleasedAugust 7, 2020 (2020-08-07)
RecordedMay 2019 – May 2020
GenreExperimental rock[1]
Length44:44
LabelP. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.
The Microphones chronology
Mount Eerie
(2003)		 Microphones in 2020
(2020)

Recording and release
It's not a music video really. A short film? A not-moving picture? An unboxing of a not yet made photobook? Amateur hypnotism? I like the idea of "lyric videos," because music videos always seem weird to me, and I like making people read the words. This is kind of a lyric video, but also a slideshow, a powerpoint presentation, a flip book. For this long autobiographical song, since there was no archival footage to use, I spent 3 weeks carefully arranging over 800 of my printed photos to sync them with the lyrics, line by line. It is a documentary, illustrated with blurs, clouds, ghosts, and the real actual people and places that are being sung about.

―Phil Elverum on the visual album[4]

After performing a show under the Microphones name in 2019, Elverum felt a desire to return to the project.[5] Speaking to NPR about the recording, Elverum explained that the releasing the name under his old moniker was part of a self-imposed writing assignment as a musician.[6]

On August 6, an album length short film was released to correspond with the release of the album.[5]

Reception

Microphones in 2020 was met with favorable reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. This release received a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on five reviews.[7] Album of the Year[8] also gave it an 87, based on nine reviews and AnyDecentMusic? assessed the critical consensus as and 8.3 out of 10.[9]

Chris DeVille of Stereogum praised the album writing that "Microphones in 2020 affirms the value of sifting through the past from time to time, so long as you spring forward. It works so well not because it tears down those old foundations, but because it builds so beautifully upon them." The site listed it as the album of the week.[10] A brief review in Mojo gave it four out of five stars, calling it "intimate" and "absorbing".[11] Matt Bobkin of Exclaim! gave the album nine out of 10, contextualizing this release in Elverum's career arc as well as the sociopolitical climate in which it was released, summing it up as "Elverum's indelible stamp of style, distilled into a single track that flows like waves in the ocean or hills on the mountainside".[12] Clare Martin of Paste praised the introspective lyrics and delicate instrumentation, concluding, "an engrossing one-track album is no easy feat, but he draws us in with expertly rich, layered lyricism and immersive production".[13] Quinn Moreland of Pitchfork Media gave the release 8.5 out of 10, with the site declaring it "Best New Music", with her review highlighting the power of the lyrics and their ability to evoke mystery and memory.[1]

Konstantinos Pappis of Our Culture Mag gave the album four out of five stars, with the unique experience of the long song and its ability to evoke memories.[14] In The Daily Californian, Crew Bittner also scored it a four out of five, praising how complex the work is, including elements that are quotidian, writing that Elverum, "seems to appreciate is that it is not a sin to be boring or unremarkable, and he celebrates mundanity and absurdity at every opportunity".[15] Writing in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Steve Kling gave the release three out of four stars, comparing it to a good memoir as "it’s intensely personal while glimpsing universal truths (and avoiding solipsism)".[16]

Track listing
  1. "Microphones in 2020" – 44:44

Personnel
  • Phil Elverum – guitar, drums, percussion, vocals, organs, piano, bass guitar

References
  1. Moreland, Quinn (August 7, 2020). "The Microphones: The Microphones in 2020 Album Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  2. Colburn, Randall (June 16, 2020). "Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum Announces New Microphones Album". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  3. Sacher, Andrew (June 16, 2020). "Watch The Microphones Play 'The Glow Pt. 2' at First Show Since 2003". Brooklyn Vegan. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  4. Thiessen, Beck (August 6, 2020). "Hear the Microphones' First New Album in Nearly Two Decades". Exclaim!. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  5. Ehrlich, Brenna (June 16, 2020). "Phil Elverum Teases First Microphones Album in 17 Years". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  6. Gotrich, Lars (August 6, 2020). "Phil Elverum Returns to a Refuge as The Microphones". NPR. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  7. "Microphones in 2020 by The Microphones". Metacritic. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  8. "The Microphones – Microphones in 2020". Album of the Year. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  9. "Microphones in 2020 by The Microphones". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  10. DeVille, Chris (2020-08-04). "Album of the Week: The Microphones Microphones in 2020". Stereogum. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  11. "Filter Albums". Mojo (322): 94. July 21, 2020. ISSN 1351-0193.
  12. Bobkin, Matt (August 5, 2020). "Microphones in 2020 Crystallizes Phil Elverum's Lifetime of Soul-Searching". Exclaim!. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  13. Martin, Clare (2020-08-06). "The Microphones Journey Through the Past, Present and Future on New Album". Paste. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  14. Pappis, Konstantinos (August 12, 2020). "Album Review: The Microphones, Microphones in 2020". Our Culture Mag. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  15. Bittner, Crew (August 11, 2020). "Microphones in 2020 Is Music as Memoir". The Daily Californian. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  16. Kling, Steve (August 7, 2020). "Fontaines D.C. Are the New Rock Heroes That 2020 Needs So Desperately". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
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