Dawn (Mount Eerie album)

The songs were all written by Phil Elverum during the winter of 2002–03, which he spent alone in a cabin in a remote part of Norway.[4] The trip was inspired by a recent breakup and Elverum's growing disillusionment with the Bush administration.[5]

The album was released on CD concurrently with a 144-page hardcover book and 16 colour photo cards.[4] The book includes Elverum's journal entries and drawings from his Norway trip.[4][6] The book is bound in paper that gives the feeling of wood.[4] The album was also released as just an LP packaged with Elverum self-portraits drawn from the reflection of a window in the cabin in Norway.[4]

Many of the songs appear on earlier releases by Mount Eerie. "Moon Sequel" is a follow-up to The Microphones' song "The Moon", and it carries the same melody. The song "Voice in Headphones" (which also appears on Lost Wisdom, released a month earlier) reprises the chorus from Björk's song "Undo", over a different verse. Elverum had previously covered Björk's "All Is Full of Love" on the 2001 Microphones album Blood. "The Dead of Night" was inspired by Elverum's experience with waking up during the night and the subsequent disorientation. He explained that the song is about the "idea of holding on to the memory of that mysterious black void while in the middle of the bright day."[7]

All songs written by Phil Elverum.

1. "It Wasn't the Hunting" – 2:49
2. "Cold Mountain" – 2:48
3. "Moon Sequel" – 2:29
4. "I Have Been Told That My Skin Is Exceptionally Smooth" – 1:32
5. "I Say "No"" – 2:05
6. "Moon, I Already Know" – 1:20
7. "With My Hands Out" – 1:43
8. "A Show of Hands" – 1:46
9. "Woolly Mammoth's Mighty Absence" – 3:24
10. "My Burning" – 1:39
11. "Great Ghosts" – 3:07
12. "Climb Over" – 2:37
13. "We Squirm" – 1:29
14. "Voice in Headphones" – 1:52
15. "Who?" – 2:11
16. "Dead of Night" – 2:43
17. "See Me" – 1:57
18. "Log in the Waves" – 1:57
19. "Goodbye Hope" – 2:25

• Phil Elverum – vocals, guitar