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Mercury RevThe Secret Migration V2/FMR Before I was able to listen to Mercury Rev's new album, 'The Secret Migration', I read somewhere that it was a striking disappointment and moved the band toward being "adult contemporary". After listening to the album, I must conclude that whoever did write that has obviously never listened to Adelaide's 'greatest hits' radio stations: there is nothing in this album remotely disappointing, nor is there anything that would have a hope of featuring on the radio stations featured in my parents' car. '...Migration' is a brilliant, perhaps slightly more subdued example of what makes Mercury Rev (and anything producer Dave Fridmann touches) golden. It is true that the rampant experimentalism of Mercury Rev's past is not as prevalent in this collection, but it has been replaced by an intriguing pop symphony. From first track Secret For A Song, the characteristically high vocals of Jonathan Donahue shine through a sea of luminous instrumentation. The songs are, as usual, thrilling, but this time the collection takes on a much happier demeanour. There are very few moments of darkness and gloom on 'The Secret Migration'. But that doesn't mean the atmosphere has gone - on the contrary, the amazing scene painted by Black Forest (Lorelei) creates a visual so lucid you can almost walk through it. I understand that die-hard fans may not appreciate this. Unlike their contemporaries, such as Grandaddy or Fridmann's other prodigies The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev don't have the sense of ridiculousness to overcompensate for the joy expressed throughout this record. It might be that '...Migration' is not as listenable as previous records, and that upon repeated excursions the whole experience becomes unstuck. If not, then I shall regard this as a simply wonderful album.  |
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