The Solipsistic Zen Poetry (?) of Mount Eerie-“Night Palace” analysis

[@Wewillgetthereeventually]

Note: The Canada geese in the background connect to the song seaweed on a crow looked at me

[@mikehunt5926]

just ruined skye’s week

[@Wewillgetthereeventually]

Also prof skye! I love your vids & have been watching for like four years, started with the bright eyes down in the weeds review, would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the new album, five dice, all threes!

[@willmewett8301]

AVAA. You are singularly so great at reviewing new music, I hate trivia too, lets talk about the work. I hate Genius annotations overly concerned with biography. I love thinking about how work is part of a tradition, inspirations, concepts, (beyond just other music especially - i.e. literature) it destroys the artist myths, and it opens us up to more amazing work that can move us and help us understand our tastes and what that all means and enrich our lives.

[@davi.mousinho]

Skye, your channel is very important. Watching videos like these feels like a kind of healing. Keep it up!

[@donnie1725]

The poetry being the perfect artform for 2024 was spot on for me as a gen Z'er who has just started reading poetry. I was always starting books but never finishing them. Poetry has given me a way to engage with art in an acessible way! It's been truly wonderful

[@indieknytt1427]

Phil Elverum might just be my favorite musician and this album is slowly cementing that fact. Night Palace is a strong contender for album of the decade for me. AVAA

[@owen3305]

As a huge fan of Mount Eerie/Phil and also Zen Buddhism, you really nailed this one for me. Going to be ordering one of your mugs, because "ignorance is profound' resonates in the same color as the Zen proverb "to keep an empty cup" and it's also funny on an actual cup. Love this one. Also-- I took Phil's songwriting course a few years ago and he used clips from I Think You Should Leave, so I can confirm he is a fan. AAVA

[@AphexTwinPeaks]

It’s absolutely an I Think You Should Leave Reference, he’s a fan of the show and even quoted it when I saw him in the Catskills last year. Empty Paper Towel Roll is my fav rn

[@juankgonzalez6230]

00:43-00:57 absolute cinema

[@FishareFriendsNotFood972]

"All about the unoccupied seasons" is a lovely out of hand turn of phrase. Once again, I'm knocked backwards by Professor's casual eloquence. AVAA

[@AndreiPopa-q1b]

AVAA! Your reviews mean a lot to many of us

[@joshuamcnamara7749]

Never expected a Professor Skye / Dōgen crossover episode. AVAA. Edit: on your bit on Phil's love of comedy, worth noting that the title for A Crow Looked At Me was based on a line Ralph Wiggum delivers in an episode of the Simpsons.

[@eriebrown6133]

AVAA Prof! You’re 2 for 2 now on having the best analysis of Phil’s work on the internet, thank you for covering my favourite artist. I also just want to say that, counter to a lot of other people, I really don’t think you ‘need’ to listen to anything else in Phil’s discography. Though I love the Glow pt. 2 and other albums, I think you’re right in that what Phil presents in these last two albums is totally enough to understand him and his music, which is a testament to his talent. Looking forward to more of your reviews and maybe someday another Mount Eerie review when Phil’s ready for another album😆

[@HawkOfGP]

I agree on all points. I never subscribed to the idea that anyone needs to listen to any specific album by anyone anyway. Just do what you want!

[@supxrkicks560]

i really do think you should give his older music a listen. the glow pt 2 and mount eerie are two of the best albums i've heard.

[@timothysmith6325]

I want to say i love your analysis of albums, its a breath of fresh air in a music landscape dominated by top 10 lists.

[@JamsandTea]

AVAA another fantastic video. Phil’s work is so spiritual and unique, I’m glad you were able to unearth something special out of this.

[@JakobvonRaumer]

AVAA! If you want a "fun" example of Phil's early work, listen to The Glow pt. 2. It's still a deep cut, but it's also much more in your face than his later albums. There's also a recent video called There's No End that shows his life of today.

[@IllusionistBeatsOfficial]

AVAA! Thanks for doing this even when it gets tough. I was very sorry to hear about your loss. Keep going man, you're doing great 🙏

[@nolannguyen2]

AVAA Prof! Grief means you care. That’s why it never goes away because once you care for someone you’ll always care for them.

[@BallisticBall]

long time watcher first time commenter AVAA ofc. il guess ur favorite as wind and fog pt2, shot in the dark honestly but it's one of my favorites at the moment. as soul crushing as a crow looked at me may be i cant help but recommend giving it one listen. aside from that, as much as it must have been commented by now i cant help but recommend my personal favorite phil record the glow pt2. to me it's an ESSENTIAL listen for really anyone. Idk have a good day skye. ps thanks for the neil young recommendation im excited to listen to it after the video

[@lesliedickson-tetteh5197]

I haven’t even had a chance to watch this yet but I’m so excited, I just had to leave a comment. I’m listening to night palace the first time through and came to look up comments on the song ‘writing poems’ just to see your analysis video. I first came across you when looking up Ka’s (RIP) the thief next to Jesus. Thank you so much for taking the time to give art that doesn’t always have the largest audience, the time and attention that it deserves. In advance - AVAA

[@fairyeater]

This is a really special review. So well done, so well spoken. Thank you! AVAA

[@AdrianArcher007]

AVAA Love your cotent, would love a video explaining some of the takes you make across all your videos like on sports betting. If I was in your class this is a question I'd have asked the first time I heard you bring it up, thank you for the new music as always!

[@Formlessrecording]

Alternative title: A Crow Interrupted Me

[@DrawingABlanka]

AVAA! This video really increased my appreciation for content of the album 😊

[@hugostinkbug]

AVAA!!!! Your perspective is always so valuable and inspiring, you're a true legend Professor. I know of course it is a coincidence but holy holy, it is so poetic that Canada geese were prevalent in this video given the context of 'Seaweed'

[@Andrew-cy7jo]

AVAA, this might be my favorite video of yours

[@sepiaflux123]

Super interesting video, happy to have seen it. Can't imagine what it's like to lose my mother, I pray she lives forever.

[@requu3822]

AVAA! Would love the hear an interview of Phil with you as a host one day!

[@McChery369]

I swear professor, your thumbnail game is one of one😂!!😁😁

[@PabloHernandez-rr1or]

AVAA, an incredibly beautiful video prof

[@muriloalvarez935]

AVAA Professor! Thank you for your amazing videos!

[@naimadbackwards]

quite possibly my favourite album of the year. probably my favourite phil elverum project. absolutely can't get enough of it and couldn't wait for this video! avaa

[@blankyd3360]

AVAA gonna do my homework now professor and listen to neil young

[@theemeraldaxe1414]

Thank you so much for this. I've been a big phil fan now for a minute, you've really helped me work through some of my thoughts about how this connects to crow. Keep up the good work man, love ya. Btw, if you like wind and fog so much, you should check out 'Winds Poem' by him😊

[@Ben-xj2rf]

Mr limpet in the thumbnail, might need to listen to this album if those are the vibes

[@chrisedwards85]

Speaking of Canada geese, you should definitely listen to A Crow Looked at Me...

[@frogfan449]

1:02:14 This is kind of a dumb comment by me, but actually I think November Rain is well known by zoomers because it is the name of a stand in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (part 9)

[@caydinwatkinson1749]

AVAA. henry rollins wrote a book called “solipsist” and it really portrays how solipsism can feel

[@diegobecerra9202]

Thank you for this AVAA

[@travismathis3279]

Usually here for the hip hop but this is one of my favorite artists of all time.

[@jnm92]

Damn professor. I was already a fan. Didn’t have to woo me by having so many based Neil Young takes ❤

[@ClydeMilliken]

AVAA Skye, if ever feeling brave I would highly recommend Now Only. The album he released a year after a crow looked at me. Listened to it the other day and was blown away, but yes, be warned it is not an easy listen either. Good work as always!!!

[@ASpookyFellow]

I adore the dad humor on display here! I would say "never change, Professor Skye," but given the subject matter, that doesn’t quite feel right... I hope you change in beautiful ways, Mr. Professor Skye :]

[@worthcarlin5639]

AVAA Thank you for your insights

[@timothynelson4785]

My younger sister died in December of 2016. Like all things, it is hard to notice how we morph with small cumulative changes. My grief is very different 8 years after the fact.

[@slumox213]

You should listen to the glow pt2 though! dont need to make a review but just for how amazign the art is. And its also sad but its more emo post breakup sad than grief sad

[@celso.p.n.6462]

The part where you talk about writing the sonnets reminds me of something I real on the liner notes of Alex Waltons' shame music 2 (A work that is for yourself is for everyone. A work that is for one other person is only for you) Btw you should definitely check out Alex Walton. She makes some of the best rock music out there, really personal and raw, and she is criminally underrated.

[@DreytedJr]

Seconding this. I love her stuff I never see anyone talk about her music so it’s great to see.

[@celso.p.n.6462]

@@DreytedJr Oh my god me neither, its so freaking cool

[@isaacgardner7722]

AVAA. This is all very comforting.

[@_Dr.PepperPHD]

18:21 **howl of the abyss** "Fix your breaks"

[@professorskye]

That made me legit laugh out loud while making breakfast

[@_Dr.PepperPHD]

@professorskye v glad, I typed it while eating a midnight snack :)) Am currently scrounging for Joanne Kyger collections online

[@Gisiebob]

the public service of garbage removal, a permanent fixture of some sleepy mornings. my cat thinks they are dragons and I might agree. someone made that brake somewhere and now it's lumbering around as a part of the thing, taking away our trash, it will last forever. it needs to last forever. squealing brakes that won't get fixed cause it's not in the budget are my spirit animal.

[@justinegan5021]

I lost it when you mentioned the ITYSL reference (which I missed) 😂

[@cam8842]

Phil just shouted out your review in his newsletter. Avaa

[@C_Jj_G]

WessSide ... BOOM!

[@justinegan5021]

In another album, he referenced his wife loving Canada geese.

[@MarbleClouds]

AVAA. You talking to crows is no revelation. I think you've convinced multiple birds to stop squaking on camera.

[@tomlotti240]

Haven't checked out the album yet (I'm busying berating myself for not getting a vinyl copy of "Shelltype" by Lawrence English"). Yeah, "No Flashlight" is one of those albums I don't listen to that frequently, even though it's a favorite. The line about "black nests/in your black hair"...I'll avoid getting to personal but will just say that a, um, "relationship" was disintegrating at the time I heard this album. Sort of new to the channel, and like hearing your thoughts.

[@corywelch667]

After A Crow Looked At Me, I'm scared to listen again. It's the Requiem for a Dream effect.

[@80fff08]

What are your thoughts on ca7riel and paco amoroso’s tiny desk ?

[@ollelindelof2592]

You should really listen to Dawn, it is in my opinion one of the best folk/ man with guitar albums ever! And its more about breakup than real death.

[@sebastians7213]

AVAA! if you ever do listen to a crow looked at me go back to 34:22 afterwards! love your work

[@sebastians7213]

"I can't remember Were you into Canada geese? Is it significant These hundreds on the beach?"

[@horubeeevans]

YESSSSSSSSSS

[@JunkpanEtc]

His record “Dawn” has some of his best zen oriented poetry as well, and it’s not related to as heavy of themes as Crow looked At me

[@dougscholz]

My biggest problem with Canadian Geese is how aggressive they are….Speaking as a Canadian I believe they are the rats of the sky.

[@timothy9734]

AVAA!

[@alistairdunnington]

gooses AVAA

[@openclassroom1649]

Associate Professor Paine, Ignorance is profound... but what about the *humility* that comes from knowing that you don't know? My feedback is that, for me, where this analysis crossed the line of playful or thoughtful into disrespectful is where you talk in an over-familiar way about the songwriter. For folks who take the risk of using autobiography in their art, it's quite vulnerable. If we as an audience appreciate that art, it requires that much more of a sense of boundaries, sensitivity, respect and humility in how we talk about them in the public sphere. I found it alienating to listen to the constant oscillation of making assumptions about the songwriter, and then kinda making a bit too big of a deal about what you didn't listen to, or that you didn't look up where he lives and mispronouncing the name... even though you apparently looked up a whole lot of other things like various poems and references. It might have helped to take one hour of this time to polish what research you had done, clarify a few things and maybe listen to an interview with the songwriter, who has been very generous in giving many interviews over the years, and then maybe keep the review to 22 minutes that are more focused and grounded, based on some organized notes. My heart goes out to you about the death of your parents, something I also understand personally and how life-changing and destabilizing it can be. At the same time, I am more aware of the songwriter than I am of you, so I found that my empathetic reactions were based on feeling into how someone like him could feel at hearing some of this commentary, like offense at you hypothesizing that him talking about his wife's death "might end up being more about his amazing ability to communicate it than it is about his genuine grief for it having happened" (even though you claim not to have heard those albums, and he doesn't really elaborate on it on this record or Microphones in 2020). Other times when you are saying his name, making assumptions about what he's like, joking about him being a year younger than you (implying that looked up his birthday) and talking about him like you are his friend... my reaction was, internally, "Leave the guy alone! Back off!" It's totally possible to discuss a work of art while staying within the context that the work gives you and not making assumptions beyond that, even for an autobiographical work of art, (which this is less so than Microphones in 2020, or his records from 2017, 2018 and 2019). There's plenty to say about the sounds, lyrics and ideas of this record without having to add speculation about the life and personality of the author. The first track of the songwriter's 2005 record No Flashlight, called "I Know No One," starts with these lyrics: "Knowing no one will understand these songs, I try to sing them clearer... I have tried to repeatedly explain in complicated songs, but tonight we will find out: I know no one and no one knows me." So, I don't know you, you don't know me, and neither of us knows the songwriter, so let's not pretend we do. Thanks!

[@wardpaine8194]

Avaa

[@Zwirlie]

AVAA

[@persesricha]

MAGA. Trump gonna make America great again. Knowone read poetry partner

[@limehead1504]

AVAA Was really waiting for this review, thank you goat 🫶 Edit: You should listen to The Glow, Pt.2 too

[@grantcuh6835]

AVAA

[@dougscholz]

AVAA