Night Palace is the eleventh studio album by Mount Eerie, the solo project of American musician Phil Elverum. The double album is Elverum’s longest album as Mount Eerie, his first release credited solely to Mount Eerie since 2018’s Now Only and his first release since 2020’s Microphones in 2020. The title of the album is a reference to Joanne Kyger's poem of the same name, which is featured on the cover of Mount Eerie’s 2017 album A Crow Looked at Me.
Concept Upon announcing the album’s release, Phil Elverum said the album was heavily inspired by Zen meditation, which he said he had been a "dabbler" in for decades, but finally made a regular part of his life in his 30s and 40s. His label explained in the press release that "After natural disasters, things do grow back[...] Elverum became a father in 2014 and then his partner fell ill with a fatal cancer and died a year later. These and other brutal waves of change kept pounding for years and it was all documented in the white knuckle songwriting on the albums A Crow Looked at Me (2017), Now Only (2018) and Lost Wisdom pt. 2 (2019)", adding that "It was in this patient clarity that Night Palace came to be written and recorded from 2022 to 2024."
Critical reception
Year-end lists + Select 2024 year-end rankings for Night Palace Publication/critic Accolade RankThe Atlantic 10 Best Albums of 20241Beats Per Minute Top 50 Albums of 202417The Fader 50 Best Albums of 20246Pitchfork 50 Best Albums of 20247The Ringer 30 Best Albums of 202419Slant Magazine 50 Best Albums of 202422Stereogum 50 Best Albums of 20247
Track listing
Personnel Phil Elverum – performance JJ Golden – mastering, lacquer cut Agathe Elverum – screaming and speaking on "Swallowed Alive" Alex Mahan – humming on "Blurred World" Geneviève Castrée – humming on "Blurred World" Bob Von Normann – photography Sigurður Þorarinsson – photography Tom Adamson – photography Edvard Munch – painting Hans Gude – painting Indigo Free – painting J. C. Dahl – painting Nicasius Bernaerts – painting Peter Nicolai Arbo – painting Kenyon R. Kaiser – redwood chainsaw carving
References