Mount Eerie & Tenniscoats

Phil Elvrum has been pursuing some interesting trails since ditching his lo-fi project The Microphones in 2004 and adopting the moniker Mount Eerie. On 2009's Wind's Poem, he submerged his doomy acoustic ballads in a huge swell of black metal, while this year's Ocean Roar – one of two Mount Eerie albums released this year – was full of abrasive, experimental moments. See Elvrum live, though, and you've just got a nervy-looking guy with a guitar and a clutch of dark, utterly engrossing songs. Last seen in Tokyo on a 2010 tour with Julie Dorion, he returned this month in the company of R&B-influenced songwriter (and sometime bandmate) Nicholas Krgovich and local 'avant-pops' duo Tenniscoats. The tour wraps up in evocative style with this gig at Machida's Ryoudenji Temple.