SNOWFLAKE MIDNIGHT

Well Mercury Rev will never get accused of poor output that is for sure. This official 2008 release is in this reviewer's opinion a marked improvement on it's predecessor, The Secret Migration. Not a bad album that either but the production sound quality was off. Midnight Snowflake is another MR conceptual work, full of butterfly dreamscapes, trippy dandelion like psychedelic naturist themes weaving in and out of Jonathan Donahue's eerie vocals. In fact his vocal input is less here as the music this time takes a more dominant role. But in this release Less is definitely more and the restraint works a treat. MR seem to really enjoy the layered soundscapes they are delivering, great atmospheres all lending to the mystique, beautifully weird music. Along with Snowflake Midnight was a tandem digital release called Strange Attractor. This official album is the more concise and measureable musically. Try listen to the extended version of the single ' Senses On Fire' off their myspace website, great loops and climaxes. Other equally great songs are People Are So Unpredictable, October Sunshine and the Floyd like Runaway Raindrop. If anyone ever thought that acid was gone listen to the finale The Squirrel and I , holding on..and then letting go, heck just listen to the lyrics and you will find that the psychedlic fringe is alive and well. Mercury Rev make another excellent album, unusual they have so little influence on progressive archives but once drawn into their strange hypnotic world it is hard to resist their sound. Highly recommended.