In anticipation of the release of the new Mount Eerie record Now Only, Spin has reported that bandleader Phil Elverum has released a new song “Tintin in Tibet.” The album is a follow up to last year’s heart wrenching A Crow Looked At Me, an album that Elverum dedicated to his late wife Genevieve, who sadly passed away from pancreatic cancer.
“Tintin in Tibet” continues the themes of A Crow Looked at Me in biographical terms as Elverum chronicles his first experiences with Genevieve and their adventures together, all leading up to her tragic death. With plenty of gentle guitar chords, Elverum sketches out a provocative portrait of the woman he loved and how he has turned his grief into music. He sings in the song that “he continues to sing to you” despite the fact that you (Genevieve) no longer exists. Eventually, the song concludes with a description of Genevieve’s final moments and her happy memories that stayed with her until the end. The track combines beautiful poetic exploration with mundane details that make for a particularly evocative listen.
You can listen to “Tintin in Tibet” in the player below but be warned, the song gets pretty heavy with its subject matter towards the end.