Review: MERCURY REV - "Born Horses"

The opening track of this “Born Horses” is enough“ to immerse yourself in the new dream of Mercury Rev, yet another sonic, sensorial and spiritual experience.

The over seven minutes of Mood Swingswith a trumpet that evokes bohemian mariachis and the windswept terrain of the desert prairie, showcase all the sonic virtues of a continuous, sparkling psych-jazz-folk-baroque-ambient research, which highlights the group's sophisticated instrumentation, while offering a new poetic perspective.

A rich, careful, meticulous sound, somewhere between organic and electronic. Guitars, keyboards, brass, strings, winds, drums, and the enchanted voice that draws from streams of consciousness that equally stir and flow. A dense, cinematic, orchestra-based mixture, mixed with ambient sounds and colored by spoken and whispered voices.

When Jonathan and I (Grasshopper) first met, one thing that bonded us was Blade Runnerboth Ridley Scott's film and Vangelis' soundtrack: that feeling of past and future, the eerie noir atmosphere and the romanticism of the future… Born Horses draws on some of all of this.
Thinking back to childhood, to Broadway tunes, to lonely blues, to Chet Baker, to Sketches of Spain from Miles Davis to the records our parents listened to, we have given a twist to the future.

From the beginning, Mercury Rev were on a ridge, between analog and digital, hi-fi and lo-fi at the same time. It was like Brecht or Weill: words suggested images and images suggested moods.

We also thought a lot about the desert on this record, and the urban desert.

And it is precisely these suspended, romantic and noir atmospheres, between digital and lo-fi, between shoegaze and magical realism, that can be perceived in all eight tracks on the album.
It's hard to pick a favorite: each has its own dreamlike pearl inside, where Jonathan Donahue narrates, rather than sings, the songs.

Lyrically, it's a dark, torn record, full of loss – loss of something important – but at the same time it becomes a therapeutic journey of exploration, in an attempt to understand the ever-changing states of mind.

An album that, every time you listen to it, convinces you more and more. An album to love and cherish.
Once again, Mercury manages to shape dreams!

MUST LISTEN NOW

Mood Swings – Born Horses – Everything I Thought I Had Lost

MUST SKIPP NOW

A dreamlike journey to be experienced in its complexity without skipping anything!

SCORE: 8,50

1. Mood Swings – rating 8.50
2. Ancient Love – rating 8.00
3. Your Hammer, My Heart – rating 8.00
4. Patterns – rating 8.00
5.A Bird Of No Address – rating 7.50
6. Born Horses – rating 8.00
7. Everything I Thought I Had Lost – rating 8.50
8. There's Always Been A Bird In Me – rating 7.50