Snowflake Midnight, by Mercury Rev (CD on V2)

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TRACKLISTING: (1) Snowflake in a hot World (2) Butterfly’s Wing (3) Senses on Fire (4) People are so Unpredictable (5) October Sunshine (6) Runaway Raindrop (7) Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower (8) Faraway from Cars (9) A Squirrel and I (holding on…. And then letting go)

2lp: vinyl 1 – as per above / vinyl 2 - features additional vinyl with Instrumental versions
 
OVERVIEW: In the middle of a song illuminated by Rev-like dreamy wonder and aural kaleidoscopia, “Butterfly’s Wing” suddenly dissipates, floating across like some distant space-age symphony. Children laugh. The high, plaintive cries of a grown-up overlap overhead, spreading the celestial mood. You imagine that this could be the sound of a dream…

Which is another way of saying, Mercury Rev are back, that rare essence intact, but tilted on its axis. “Butterfly’s Wing” is track two on their extraordinary new album, “Snowflake Midnight”, which is as thrilling as their other milestone releases, specifically their 1991 sprawling avant-psych Dada-rock debut Yerself Is Steam, and their 1998 masterpiece Deserter’s Songs, which signalled their rebirth as purveyors of a cosmic brand of the popular American songbook. Snowflake Midnight, given its inject of both vintage and present-day electronics, is less a rebirth than a reboot; but it sounds like a brand new Mercury Rev. Few bands can reinvent themselves even the once, but Snowflake Midnight is the sound of lightening striking again..

Mercury Rev – which remains the triangular core of Jonathan Donahue, Grasshopper and Jeff Mercel – admit they knew what was needed, though of course they didn’t know how to get there until they’d done it. Maybe they sub-consciously realised that they made albums in threes – first Yerself Is Steam, its jazzier sequel Boces (1993) and the transitional See You On The Other Side (1995), then Deserter’s Songs and its blood relations All Is Dream (2001) and The Secret Migration (2005). Maybe releasing the soundtrack Hello Blackbird was a sign of another direction. Or perhaps releasing their first compilation Essential Mercury Rev: Stillness Breathes 1991-2006 drew a line under the past. All they know is, they recognised a change over which they had no control.

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