The Glow Pt. 2

Pictured in 2006: Canadian indie rock band Eric's Trip influenced Elverum's use of recurring imagery and themes.[2]

The album was recorded between May 23rd, 2000 and March 23rd, 2001 at Dub Narcotic, Olympia, Washington.[3] The experimention Elverum incorparted into the album was the reason behind the album's long recording time–relative to his previous works.[2] Hoping to achieve a more organic sound, Elverum recorded the album on 16 track analog tape.[3][4] Elverum would record the songs early in the morning, alone, as well as spending nights at the studio.[3][2] He wrote the songs alongside the recording process.[5] The album was recorded entirely in stereo.[6]

Elverum created the distortion on the album via "running the guitar through the mic input on a thrift store cassette deck, then out the headphone jack into the amp."[7] The distorted drums were recorded via raising the volume on the mics (in particular Sennheiser mkh 405) and using compressors.[8] The drums were recording via multi-tracking with the snare and bass drum be recorded after the initial recording.[8] Elverum used his Chamberlin Rhythmate 40 drum machine on the album. The drum machine was credited as "Karl Blau", a friend of Elverum.[9]

The Glow Pt. 2 marks a shift in Elverum's writing to a more abstract, symbolic style, diverting from the "short, straightforward pop songs" of It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water.[6][10] American drama television show Twin Peaks was influential to the atmosphere and tone of the record.[8] Elverum's relationship and subsquent dissolution to Khaela Maricich was important to the album's creation and is mentioned on songs such as "I Want Wind to Blow" with the opening lyrics referencing them breaking up, the changing weather of the time (with the weather serving as a metaphor for his emotions) and their beach boys cover band "The Thunder Clouds".[2][11]

The original recording chart for "I Want Wind To Blow".

The opening track "I Want Wind to Blow" was recorded on January 1 2001.[11] Elverum wrote the melody in Philadelphia while on tour.[11] The countermelody to the song is played in the key of G while the main melody is played in a higher register.[11] All the instrumentation was performed by Elverum.[11] Elverum recorded the piano tracks with the microphone deliberately far away, intending to capture the natural sounds of the piano and the studio which would otherwise not be picked up.[11] The guitar sections were intended to resemble the sound of water. This was done by miking the amp and strings and having two microphones for left and right.[11] The song features recordings of Elverum retrieving his headphones and scarping a snare.[11] Elverum intended for each instrument to represent a character: "poking their head in".[11] The phrase, repeated throughout the song "I want wind to blow" was explained by Elverum to "want crazy events to happen to me. I’m tired of gray. Give me black or white."[12]

The title track, as explained by Elverum, is about the desire to wallow in self pity: "Being annoyed at your heart for still beating".[13] It features the lyrics "my blood flows harshly" which Elverum holds for 14 seconds.[4] Musically the song features organ accompaniment, distorted drums and off-kilter finger picking.[14] Dan Hancox of The Guardian compared Elverum's mood in the song to that of a "disaster survivor".[4] The third track "The Moon" features acoustic chords and whispered lyrics. Elverum found the inspiration for the song in his routine nightly walks.[2] The songs "I'll Not Contain You" and "I Felt Your Shape," discuss the "impossible desire to hold on to fleeting things".[2] Elverum stated that

"'I Felt Your Shape' is basically about hugging, the difference between hugging someone and grabbing them and squeezing them and not letting go, or hugging them in a lighter way where you're feeling their shape. Not in a desperate, grabbing way, but in a way that's sensitive or something."[2]

The final song "My Warm Blood" is an ambient composition which resembles the opener "I Want Wind to Blow".[2] The song ends with the sound of a heartbeat.[6] The song is connected to the opening track "I The Sun" from the fourth and final Microphones album, Mount Eerie.[15]

Throughout the album Elverum's lyrics range from highly specific to "macrocosmic" in scale.[2] They're performed in a stream-of-consciousness manner, frequently referencing nature and the Pacific Northwest.[4] The songs are equally diverse ranging from "ambient studio experiments" to " simple, acoustic folk songs" to "expansive multitracked forces of nature".[2] Sudden and abrupt rhythm and key changes are present throughout the record.[4]

The theme of fire is central to the album.[15][8] The fire on the artwork is a meant to be a representation of "the Glow", first introduced on the fourth track of It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water. The Glow in It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water was a "glowing window that you see as you are freezing to death in the snow, or the light you go into supposedly when you die" however on The Glow Pt. 2 it represents "one's inner 'life force'".[2] The theme of searching for an area of "self-discovery and love" is also central to the album as are themes of flesh, blood, water, wood, life and death.[6][16]

After releasing the album Elverum, alongside Calvin Johnson and Khaela Maricich, embarked on The Paper Opera Tour.[17][18] The tour encompassd North America and Europe with them playing shows from a women's club on the Jersey Shore, to a historic Boston movie theater to an art studio in Washington D.C.[17] The three of them played together with audience participation being a large factor.[17] The tour featured short plays, dance routines and "human simulations of the solar system".[17] Elverum also went on a six week long tour himself afterwards, playing in North America.[8]

The album has been reissued multiple times. First in 2007 by K Records with a collection of then unreleased songs and versions of previously released songs. This collection was titled Other Songs & Destroyed Versions.[5] The album was then reissued in 2008 due to being out of out of print on CD and Vinyl.[19] The album was again reissued in 2013 on July 9 without the extra collection of songs. The album was released under his label P. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.[20]

Due to K Records failure to properly bookkeep it's unknown how many copies of The Glow Pt. 2 has ever been sold.[21]

Contemporary reviews of The Glow Pt. 2 upon release were generally positive. Matt LeMay of Pitchfork called the album an "alive" and "sprawling, swirling composition", while stating that "parts of The Glow Pt. 2 are absolutely breathtaking" due to its stereoscopic enhancements.[6] LeMay felt that the album "exceeds even its predecessor in capturing the simultaneous wrath and fragility of nature" and praised the title track as being "the single most breathtaking song on the album".[6] Dave Heaton of PopMatters described The Microphones' approach to music as "free and idiosyncratic" and "constrained by few boundaries, a fact that allows them to travel through various unique musical lands".[23] Stylus Magazine's Tyler Martin asserted that The Microphones "spew innovation every second of this disc" and that the album "promises something you have never heard before and delivers it, perhaps more than you'd expect".[22] Craig Dunsmuir of Exclaim! stated that the album is an example of "where the cliché of "hearing new things in it every time you listen" actually rings true" he also described the album as having "substantial quality".[24]

Professional ratings

Retrospective reviews (published after 2003)
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[25]
Consequence of Sound	[26]
Pitchfork (2008)	9.3/10[27]
PopMatters	9/10[28]
Under the Radar	9/10[29]

Retrospective reviews of The Glow Pt. 2 have expressed more general critical acclaim for the album. It ranks as one of his most critically aclaimed and popular albums.[30] In a review of the album's 2008 re-issue, Brian Howe of Pitchfork stated that The Glow Pt. 2 remained to be Phil Elverum's "crowning achievement" and that "seven years of imitation have done nothing to dull its impact—it sounds as unaccountably grand now as it did in 2001".[27] Brock Thiessen of Exclaim! described the album as "a brave new world where solar noise bursts over sprawling epics of the most intimate nature" and stated that "it's clear age hasn't tainted the kaleidoscopic Glow Pt. 2 in the least".[31] Writing in Under the Radar, Wendy Lynch stated that The Glow Pt. 2 "encapsulates chaos with sparatic [sic] changes and bullets of sound" and labelled The Microphones as "one of the most original, interesting bands to come out in the last 3 years".[29] Heather Phares of AllMusic stated that "it's The Glow, Pt. 2's deep, nearly spiritual yearning that makes it the Microphones' most compelling album to date."[25] Eric Grandy of The Stranger wrote that "Nothing Elverum has done since has entirely eclipsed The Glow Pt. 2. The album finds him at the apex of his productive prowess and his songwriting skill."[2] In 2012, Corey Beasley included the album at number four on a list dedicated to ranking Pitchfork's number one albums from 1996-2011 calling the album his "creative peak".[32]

After a second reissue of The Glow Pt. 2 in 2013, Colin Joyce of Consequence of Sound hailed the record as "a masterwork of sequencing as it bleeds and blends from track to track".[26] Dan Hancox, writing for The Guardian in its "Hidden treasures" column, described the album as "a masterstroke" and "a millennial Daydream Nation".[4] Stephen Krock of That Music Magazine called the album "ingenious" and the band's "definitive work."[33] Cypress Marss of L.A. Record called the album a definitive release in the indie folk genre.[34] Adam Nelson of The Line of Best Fit lauded The Glow Pt. 2 as an "essential work of modern indie",[35] while Stereogum's retrospective feature on the album stated that the album's "bond with listeners, as individuals," surpasses its critical success.[36] Patrick Pilch of Treblezine included the songs “I Want Wind to Blow”/”The Glow Pt. 2” on a list of 10 Essential back-to-back song pairs writing: "The songs truly are a quintessential pairing. They feed off one another’s existence, sonically lacing through an orchestral lo-fi arrangement."[14]

American rapper Lil Peep sampled the songs "(Something)" and "Headless Horseman".[37]

Elverum was grateful for the attention the album had received but was disillusioned with the "Canonziation" the album received from music publications, stating that the idea "albums are “good” or “bad” or “essential” or not is a total myth that can usually be purchased by getting a more expensive publicist."[5]

All tracks are written by Phil Elverum.

Other Songs & Destroyed Versions
Compilation album by The Microphones
Released	2007
Genre	Indie Folk
Length	43:08
Label	K Records

The 2007 reissue of The Glow Pt. 2 included a second disc, Other Songs & Destroyed Versions which contains twenty additional tracks, composed during and after the recording of The Glow Pt. 2. The "destroyed version" is in reference to him isolating and "unmixing" the songs which appeared on The Glow Pt. 2. He did this to aid "the feeling of the album as a cohesive thing". [3][19][5]

• Phil Elverum
• Karl Blau
• Khaela Maricich
• Kyle Field
• Jacob Navarro
• Eddy Blau
• Dave Matthies
• Nate Ashley
• Jenn-Kliese
• Leo Visser