The Microphones - It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water (Album Review)

 

The Microphones - It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water

(2000)

My copy: 2013 reissue by P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.

Most lo-fi genre tourists find themselves face to face with The Microphones’s The Glow Pt. 2 album early into their exploration. “But where’s the Glow Pt. 1 record?” some have asked before digging into any of Phil Elverum’s back catalog. Such confusion may be warranted, as it’s not often that an entire album is crafted as a sequel to a singular song on the previous album. That’s right, crack open a copy of It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water and you’ll see the original “The Glow” sitting at eleven minutes on the A-side. So how does It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water stand up to its more famous successor? Surprisingly well, for its playful experimentation and more concise runtime. 

Repetition is key on “The Pull” where an acoustic guitar is strummed hypnotically, with panning effects in full swing. The mood is warm and sweet before drums explode, sending distortion rippling through the quaint vocal harmonies. Elverum’s early writing was far more unpredictable, with “Ice” being proof in its ever shapeshifting structure. From fills on ruined drums to mystical vocal duets and curious bells, the compositions change at the blink of an eye. “Sand” is a cover of the Eric’s Trip song of the same name, now rearranged for accordion with humming drums that sit in the background like the sound of a washing machine. 

Then comes “The Glow” itself, an eleven minute journey through indie-folk, lo-fi rock and ambient field recordings. The choir of voices featured in the early movement creates a lulling effect, and the cathartic wave of harmonies is striking. The songs here repeatedly collapse and rise from the ash into new ideas, with instruments often contributing only small prods of sound at once. “Karl Blau” is named for Elverum’s K records colleague and collaborator and is a brief, swung piece of indie-pop with Beach Boys-esque harmonies. “Drums” almost sounds like a field recording of a street parade with its wide array of rattling percussion, until the song throws a fit and devolves into chaos. 

Sirens interlock with loud, grumbling bass on “The Gleam” which also receives a sequel on Elverum’s next album. The accordion returns with ghostly reverberating ambiance on “The Breeze” which is lightened by double-time guitar strumming. More environmental recordings surface on “(something)” until the song is worked into a murky jam session. “In Between Your Ear And The Other Ear” is impressively dynamic for hosting a simple chord progression given that Elverum and co. are masters of layering. In one final act of defiance, “Organs” sets up an intriguing drone that abruptly cuts out to end the record. 

It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water finds itself in a very comfortable position in The Microphones collection: not quite as undercooked as the debut full-length and yet still more adventurous and untamed than The Glow Pt. 2. This is certainly an album that takes time to fully attach itself to your heart, due largely to its sporadic mood changes, but listening intently with headphones yields some of the most convincing highs of Elverum’s output.