Microphones in 2020 is the fifth and final studio album by American indie folk and indie rock band the Microphones. It is the Microphones' first release in 17years, following 2003's Mount Eerie. It was released on August 7, 2020, on frontman Phil Elverum's record label P.W. Elverum & Sun.
Microphones in 2020 is a concept album consisting of one 44-minute song describing Elverum's life and musical career. The album was written and recorded entirely by Elverum. Its release was accompanied by a short film consisting of 761 printed photos taken by Elverum, which Elverum described as "lyric video...a slideshow, a powerpoint presentation, a flip book and a documentary".
Upon its announcement, fans and music publications were interested the album was credited to the Microphones and not to Mount Eerie, which Elverum had released most of his music under since 2004. The album received widespread critical acclaim.
Background and inspiration
In 1996, Elverum began the Microphones, which soon developed a cult fanbase. He retired the moniker in 2003 and began a new project under the name Mount Eerie, the same name used as the title for the fourth Microphones album. After performing a show under the Microphones name in 2019, the attention it received led Elverum to question his "past identity" and desire to return to the project.
The project first started with Elverum "just walking around with it in [his] head and mumbling to [himself]". He then got ideas for lyrics which he refined to only "the necessary parts" and translated to written words. He wrote them down by hand in a notebook. Elverum stapled together pages of paper to keep it as one contained piece; he compared it to a scroll which was, according to him, "about nine feet long". The album was recorded between May 2019 and May 2020.
Speaking to NPR, Elverum explained that releasing the album under his old moniker was part of a self-imposed writing assignment as a musician. He wanted the album to be a "project of demystification" which evoked and prodded at the feeling and history of the Microphones—but not hindered by nostalgia, instead being long-lasting—analysed it within the scope of Elverum's life and change in perspective and rather than answer questions, simply express "how it is. The true state of all things is a waterfall".
Composition and lyrics
Composition
Microphones in 2020 is a concept album that consists of a single 44-minute song. It begins with a seven-minute introduction composed of two double-tracked and out of phase chords—D major and F sharp minor—played on an acoustic guitar. After the introduction, more instruments are introduced: speak-singing, drums, bass, organ, electric guitar (which at times appears abruptly), and piano (which slowly crescendos).
Elverum explained that his reasoning for the intro's length was "wanting to push up against the edges, similar to extreme drone music, the way that it wears down at your sense of time and reality and makes you forget yourself", as well as symbolically representing the time between Mount Eerie and Microphones in 2020. When it was suggested that the album is a postmodern entity, Elverum stated, "Yeah well I feel it is its own weird thing, I guess. [...] I think of it more as an audiobook or something. It's like this big chunk thing that you can listen to if you want to sit down and devote some time to it."
Lyrics
The album is mainly about Elverum's life and musical career. He discusses many significant moments in his musical career, such as the beginnings of the Microphones, the production of the 2001 album The Glow Pt. 2, watching the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, viewing performances by Stereolab and Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and listening to "Freezing Moon" by Mayhem.
Nostalgia is a prominent theme, with both the nostalgia of Elverum and his fans discussed, as well as the question of it being positive or not being proposed. The questions Elverum had from the initial 2019 show performing under the Microphones name again are featured and explored in the album. Themes of process, form, identity, impermanence, and uncertainty are present—with the latter two themes, according to Elverum, inspired by "The trauma and mess of the last five or so years of my life".
Release
The album was announced on June 16, 2020, and released on August 7. According to writer Conor Williams, the initial attention from fans and music publications originated from the decision for the album to be released under the Microphones, which surprised Elverum (who expected the song's length to garner the attention). The album was intentionally not released on Spotify as a form of protest.