You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
This episode contains explicit language.
In the fall of 2001, Phil Elvin released the album The Glow Part II on K Records.
Pitchfork named it the best album of the year.
In this episode, Phil recounts how he created the first song on the record at Dubb Narcotics Studio.
He spoke with me from his home in Anacortes,
Washington, about his love of being alone in the studio,
evoking nature through music, and where the name The Microphones comes from.
Plus, we'll hear from Calvin Johnson, founder of the legendary record label K Records.
My name's Phil Elvrum, and I made a bunch of records under the name The Microphones,
and now I make records under the name Mount Erie.
This song is called I Want Wind to Blow, and it's the first song on my record,
The Glow Part II, which came out in 2001.
I recorded it in Dub Narcotics Studio in Olympia, Washington, on January 1st, 2001.
I just noticed that when I dug out the track sheet.
I just recorded all the time.
That was my life back then.
I lived a block from the studio, and I had a key,