This album is the musical equivalent of a Charlie Kaufman film – mysterious, ethereal, shapeshifting, and indifferent as to whether the listener (viewer) ‘gets it’ or not. After suddenly coming to the attention of the general public (and mainstream music critics) after three studio albums with 1998’s brilliant Deserter’s Songs, this was Mercury Rev’s highly anticipated follow up in 2001. It’s a very different creature to Deserter’s Songs – never a bad thing – emphasising their psychedelic dreamstate side, rather than the slightly trippy, student-friendly tracks of the previous album. It reminds me of Brian Wilson’s Smile in its symphonic pop, although it’s far more proggy and the lyrics and themes are far more interesting. The sweeping intro of The Dark is Rising sets the tone for the album with epic orchestral flourishes and Jonathan Donahue’s schoolboy vocals. There’s also a bowed saw being played in there somewhere. This reminds me of one of my favourite ever films, Delicatessen, which is never a bad thing. Lincoln’s Eyes is a 7 minute cinematic epic that starts slow and soft and then crescendos with guitars, theremins, drums and the kitchen sink. The ‘lighter’ tracks like Nite and Fog and A Drop In Time are far less immediate and not radio fodder like Goddess On A Hiway or the Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp from Deserter’s Songs, but quite delicious all the same. Hercules, the closing track, is even longer and an epic of Homeric proportions. All is dream, indeed. #mercuryrev @themercuryrev #allisdream #thedarkisrising #spidersandflies #niteandfog #recordcollection #nowplaying #nowlistening #randomrecordreview https://www.instagram.com/p/CF5aV_spT9X/?igshid=d31s7glwh6nt
