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Little Bird Flies Into a Big Black Cloud
Folk · 2002 · 18 tracks

Little Bird Flies Into a Big Black Cloud

the Microphones

September 13, 2002 · St. Ives

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This is not an album designed for the stage or the studio; it is the sound of a person alone in a room, thinking out loud through a microphone. It feels like a secret you were not supposed to hear, a collection of musical diary entries captured on February 2, 2002.

The production is so stripped back that the silence between notes becomes a physical presence, filled with the hum of the recording gear and the subtle movements of Phil Elverum’s body.

Tracklist · 18 Tracks
01
“I look just like you tree”
1:31
02
“Oh You Coward”
3:44
03
“I Was Afraid All of the Day”
2:36
04
“These Graces Aren’t the Whole”
2:16
05
“I’ve Climbed Mountains”
3:27
06
“Samurai Sword/I Will Not Contain You”
2:18
07
“For My Friends to See”
3:44
08
“My Body Holds Songs”
2:06
09
“We All Hum Like That Soon”
3:12
10
“Whose Blood Is This?”
3:40
11
“Phil Elvrum’s Will”
1:15
12
“Three Steps”
1:13
13
“I’m an Iceberg in a Mountain”
2:38
14
“I Can See the Glowing Core in You”
1:09
15
“Waking From My Zombie Slumber”
0:58
16
“In a Tiger’s Jaw, Loving, Living, Raw”
0:58
17
“I Feel Her Breath Blow”
0:45
18
“Painful Storms Will Always Come to Blur My Way”
1:40
Moments Worth Listening For
The moment the tape hiss suddenly cuts to silence between the third and fourth tracks.
The audible intake of breath before the first chord of a particularly fragile melody.
A sudden, clumsy piano chord that rings out and decays into the room's natural silence.
The way the acoustic guitar strings buzz slightly against the frets during a quiet bridge.
Where This Album DepartsEach spoke is a trait. The orange shape shows where this album pulls away from — or holds to — the rest of the artist’s catalogue. Tap for more.

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