Real Death

Stereogum's Peter Helman premiered it on January 25, 2017 with the album announcement; Wikipedia's infobox gives January 18, but its text, Stereogum and Spin agree on the 25th. Elverum wrote it at home in 2016 and the exact recording date is not documented. The lyrics address the reality of loss and reject the idea that poetry or art can make sense of it. In a note dated December 11, 2016, Elverum wrote that "Death Is Real" could have been the album's title but he did not want that to be what is remembered, adding that he makes the songs to multiply his voice saying that he loves her. Paste put it on its list of the 50 saddest songs of the 21st century so far. We found no video for it. It opened Set 1 on September 11, 2017 in Brooklyn, though sources disagree about the venue. We found no covers or samples.