Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration (2005) - Review

Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration - (2005) - Cover

Shiny Shiny Sounds (3/5)

Back on form after the understated and less than lastingly memorable All Is Dream, The Secret Migration is full of trademark Mercury Rev sounds and songs. The soft focus, dewy eyed mysticism is still there, but the songs have a strength and maturity that will no doubt appeal to longtime fans and new fans alike.

Whilst the hope of ever hearing a Mercury Rev album as sonically pleasing as Boces or Steam is unlikely, there are flashes of that greatness here in tracks like the barnstorming opener Secret For A Song and Arise. There's still plenty of dreamy Brothers Grimm style fairytale lyrics and imagery alongside a harder-edged underlying sound which plants the album firmly in your mind rather than dusting it for soft-focus cobwebs.

There's plenty of nods to the soundscapes of Phil Spector, Brian Wilson and The Beatles, and despite having quite a few minutes that pass by with an unerring sense of familiarity, its not a bad kind of familiarity to be familiar with. The songs are strongly written and take a good while to get in your head, but the album is worth persevering with as its a fairly satisfying and together piece.

Pleasing and crisp, the album is not a classic by a long chalk, but there's certainly plenty there to keep Rev Heads happy and to appeal to an audience weaned on the likes of more modern and mainstream Indie Pop like the Polyphonic Spree and once great and now decidedly dull and middle-aged Flaming Lips.

David Lloyd © December 2004 - Originally written for DioBach.com

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