This is the second album Phil Elverum has devoted to dealing with the death of his wife Genevieve. As with 2017’s A Crow Looked At Me, every word is clearly, brutally autobiographical. The words, and Elverum’s grief, take center stage and are not particularly lyrical; as before, the plucking and strumming exist in service to them. But Now Only displays more musical dexterity and hints of structure; one song even has a chorus. The tone, too, is more varied; they are all songs of loss, but whereas its predecessor was one dive after another into bleak, haunted desolation, Now Only offers different shades. All of them are difficult, and none are trite — only on the penultimate song does Elverum even begin to contemplate moving forward, and his heartache still reasserts itself plenty even after that. Elverum is still grieving, but he’s working with that grief, and we’re all lucky he’s willing to share that journey. Highlights: “Now Only,” “Earth,” “Two Paintings by Nikolai Astrup”
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