Lost Wisdom
| Lost Wisdom | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 7, 2008 | |||
| Recorded | Anacortes, Washington | |||
| Genre | Lo-fi, indie folk | |||
| Length | 24:34 | |||
| Label | P. W. Elverum & Sun (ELV 019) | |||
| Mount Eerie chronology | ||||
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| Julie Doiron chronology | ||||
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| Frederick Squire chronology | ||||
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Lost Wisdom is the second album by Mount Eerie, with Canadian musicians Julie Doiron and Frederick Squire. It was released 7 October 2008 on P. W. Elverum & Sun,[1][2] less than a month before Elverum's next album, Dawn was released, which featured songs from this album. A follow up album, Lost Wisdom pt. 2, was released in 2019, without Frederick Squire.
Background
The recording of the album was somewhat spontaneous. Doiron and Squire had a few days between a recent tour and an upcoming recording session in Olympia, Washington,[2] and made a surprise visit to Phil Elverum in Anacortes.[1] Although Elverum was reluctant to ask the two to record an album,[2] the three decided to do so and quickly recorded the album.
Elverum considers Doiron his favorite singer,[1] and says recording with her was a "dream come true" for him.[2] She was a member of Eric's Trip, an indie noise pop band from the early 1990s, and has since recorded numerous solo albums. Elverum considers Eric's Trip his favorite band of all time, and says the band is "the reason why I got into playing music".[2] On The Microphones' 2000 album It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water, he covered the Eric's Trip song "Sand" from their 1993 EP Songs About Chris. The Microphones song "I Felt You", from the 1999 album Don't Wake Me Up, samples the Eric's Trip song "May 11" from the 1993 album Love Tara.
The song "Lost Wisdom" is a reference to a Burzum song of the same title found on the album Det Som Engang Var.
A different version of the song "With My Hands Out" appears on Mount Eerie's 2004 release Seven New Songs, and other tracks later appeared on Dawn, released on 1 November 2008. Though the versions found on Dawn are actually the original recordings of those songs done in 2002. The track "Voice in Headphones" on this album reprises the chorus from Björk's song "Undo", over a different verse. Elverum had previously covered Björk's "All Is Full of Love" on the 2001 Microphones album Blood.
Reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 82/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Crawdaddy! | (favorable)[5] |
| Dusted | (favorable)[6] |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.3/10[7] |
| Spectrum Culture | 3.5/5.0[8] |
| Sputnikmusic | [9] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | [10] |
| Popmatters |   [11] |
Upon release, the album received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 82, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 8 reviews.[12]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Phil Elverum
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lost Wisdom" | 4:14 |
| 2. | "Voice in Headphones" | 2:16 |
| 3. | "You Swan, Go On" | 1:25 |
| 4. | "Who?" | 2:24 |
| 5. | "Flaming Home" | 2:29 |
| 6. | "What?" | 2:06 |
| 7. | "If We Knew..." | 1:37 |
| 8. | "With My Hands Out" | 1:39 |
| 9. | "O My Heart" | 3:17 |
| 10. | "Grave Robbers" | 1:47 |
| Total length: | 24:34 | |
References
- ^ a b c "Lost Wisdom" (pdf). Anacortes, Washington: P. W. Elverum & Sun. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
- ^ a b c d e Solarski, Matthew (2008-07-16). "Mount Eerie Talks Julie Doiron Collab, Tons of Releases". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
- ^ "Lost Wisdom". Metacritic. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Crawdaddy! review Archived 2008-10-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dusted review
- ^ Pitchfork Media review
- ^ Spectrum Culture review Archived 2010-01-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Sputnikmusic review
- ^ Tiny Mix Tapes review
- ^ "Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron & Fred Squire: Lost Wisdom".
- ^ "Lost Wisdom". Metacritic. Retrieved 2016-12-18.