It often takes years of tears and therapy before one can recognize the patterns and themes of one's life. For the Microphones' Phil Elvrum, it takes about half an album. However obvious it is to listeners that Elvrum's "The Glow" Pt. 2 is deeply rooted in the elements--each song features images of air, fire, or wind--the songwriter wasn't so readily aware of his intentions.

"It happened sort of halfway through the making," admits Elvrum from his home in Olympia. "In the middle of everything I thought, 'Oh look at that, all the songs are about the same thing.'" This thematic orientation is typical of all of Elvrum's Microphones releases (he also plays in Old Time Relijun) but on this, his fourth, Elvrum has finally become a little more conscious of the process: "With time I've gotten better at recognizing the pattern earlier on and recognizing that there is a theme to be worked with, which makes things a little less complicated."

Structurally, "The Glow" Pt. 2 can be compared to Olivia Tremor Control and Bright Eyes in that each song on the album is a careful study in subtle lushness. The line between spareness and over-adornment is a delicate one, and knowing when enough is enough, or being able to pinpoint the exact moment that stripped-down becomes merely bland, is key. Elvrum has his own simple system of checks and balances for deciphering the correct formula. "Since it's just me in the studio, I'm more conscious of when I'm overdoing it because it takes more time to overdo it," he notes with a laugh. "I think the balance is important, though, and I like music that has that kind of fluctuation within each song."

When Elvrum performs live, all this attention to detail and theme is likely to fly right out the window, and the singer is known to turn his set into a comedy act. "Somehow I opened for Neil Hamburger last time I played in Seattle," recalls Elvrum, who attempted to emulate Hamburger's shtick. "It was probably the world's biggest failure."