This album begins with the birth of its' protagonist, the self-titled Phil. Temporarily taking on the perspective of the near-omniscient sun, we follow Phil through the first half of his life.

With a tremendous fear of death in mind, Phil hurriedly begins his journey of climbing the titular Mount Eerie. While the real-life Mount Erie is a mountain in Anacortes, Washington prevalent throughout Phil Elverum’s childhood, here it is a representation of the struggle of living, where we all live our lives climbing to the top of Mount Eerie, only to then be inevitably killed because of the human condition.