The Glow Pt. 2

The Glow Pt. 2 is the third studio album by American indie folk and indie rock project the Microphones. It was released on September 11, 2001, through K Records and later through P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd. Recording was done on analog equipment at Dub Narcotic, Olympia, Washington, from May 2000 to March 2001. The album takes influences from numerous music genres such as black metal, ambient and avant-garde, as well as non-musical sources like the American drama television show Twin Peaks and primary member Phil Elverum's relationship to Khaela Maricich. Elverum was responsible for the album's production in its entirety.

Musically, The Glow Pt. 2 diverts from the band's previous studio release It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water, and features experimental production, alongside musical techniques and lyrics that often reference nature and the Pacific Northwest. For promotion, Elverum embarked on The Paper Opera Tour with Calvin Johnson and Khaela Maricich, before going on a solo tour of North America. In the years following its release, the album has been reissued multiple times, with the first in 2007 including a disc of bonus material. An immediate critical success, it has since appeared in multiple rankings of the best albums of the 2000s, and is considered by many music critics to be the Microphones' best work and an important release in the lo-fi genre.

The Glow Pt. 2 was recorded between May 23, 2000, and March 23, 2001, at Dub Narcotic, Olympia, Washington. Elverum hoped to achieve a more organic sound by recording it on a 16 track analog tape. He would generally record the songs early in the morning, alone. He wrote the songs alongside recording them, being at times accompanied by Mirah who would frequently compliment his material and predict that, "This record is going to be something special." The Glow Pt. 2 was recorded entirely in stereo.

Elverum created the distortion on the album via "running the guitar through the mic input on a thrift store cassette deck, then out the headphone jack into the amp". The distorted drums were recorded by raising the volume on the microphones, particularly Sennheiser MKH 405, and using compressors. The drums were recorded via multi-tracking with the snare and bass drum added after the initial recording. Elverum used his Chamberlin Rhythmate 40 drum machine on The Glow Pt. 2 with the machine being credited as "Karl Blau", a friend of Elverum.

The Glow Pt. 2 was influenced by black metal, ambient, and avant-garde for the first time in Elverum's career. The record's tone and atmosphere were also influenced by the American drama television show Twin Peaks. The cover art for The Glow Pt. 2 originated from an antique Dutch cookbook entitled Calvé-Delft's Winterboekje, which was printed from 1933–1934.

The Glow Pt. 2 marked a shift in Elverum's writing to a more abstract, symbolic style from the "short, straightforward pop songs" of the Microphones' previous studio album It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water, although it uses "similar sounds and songwriting styles". Elverum's lyrics range from highly specific to "macrocosmic" in scale. The lyrics are performed in a stream of consciousness manner and frequently reference nature and the Pacific Northwest while exhibiting a sense of longing. The songs are equally diverse, ranging from ambient pieces, to acoustic folk songs, to "expansive multitracked forces of nature", with multi-tracking being utilised on songs such as "I'll Not Contain You". Sudden piano stabs and abrupt rhythm and key changes are present throughout The Glow Pt. 2. Elverum employs multiple unique production techniques, such as compartmentalising individual notes to separate audio tracks and arranging the tracks to perform the melody in sequence. "Call-and-response" panning is featured on the song "Instrumental".

The theme of fire is central to the album. The fire on the artwork is meant to be a representation of "the Glow"; this was first introduced on the fourth track of It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water, which Elverum stated was a "glowing window that you see as you are freezing to death in the snow, or the light you go into supposedly when you die". Of the presence of "the Glow" on The Glow Pt. 2, Elverum said it represents "one's inner 'life force'". Themes of flesh, blood, water, wood, life, death and overcoming depression are also central to the album.

Retrospective reviews of The Glow Pt. 2 have expressed stronger general critical acclaim for the album. It has since become a cult classic, ranking as one of Elverum's most critically acclaimed and popular albums; considered by many to be his best work and one of the best lo-fi albums.