Mercury Rev
All is Dream
V2

Welcome to the world of Mercury Rev, an uncategorizable world of shimmering elegance and lush paranoia that increasingly exists on its own strange terms. Not surprisingly, Mercury Rev has always been hard to pin down. The group began in the late 1980s as a sort of avant-garde circus but has since become something entirely different, more of a band and less of a project.

This evolution is due at least in part to Dave Fridmann. As producer of such artists as The Flaming Lips, Mogwai and Sparklehorse, Fridmann has pioneered his peculiar vision with consistency and care, creating a sound that can only be described as equal parts fairy tale and ghost story. Fridmann is not only Mercury Rev's producer of choice, he is also their bass and organ player; the band's world is his and vice versa.

Deserter's Songs, released in 1998, showcased the Fridmann/Mercury Rev sound, fully realized. The album featured a liberal use of theremin, glockenspiel and organ; its far-off vibe could be bombastic and quaint, earthy and robotic at the same time. Otherwise accessible songs were twisted, unfolding in fragments of Jonathan Donahue's creepy, Neil Young-like vocals and the band's epic instrumental flourishes. Not quite pop, never rock 'n' roll, sometimes psychedelic and always ethereal, Deserter's Songs met with much critical acclaim and made Fridmann a hot commodity.

All Is Dream is more of a companion piece than a sequel to Deserter's Songs. Though not as tuneful and slightly weirder, it explores many of the same ideas. Both albums draw heavily on old-world mythology to enhance their lyrical vibrancy. But where Deserter's Songs tempered this tendency with breezy Americana, All Is Dream delves further, bordering on pure fantasy.

The songs rarely follow predictable formulas, falling into one another by means of eerie instrumental transitions. The band employs pedal steel guitars, synthesized female choirs and even saws to carry out its goals.

Apparently legendary arranger Jack Nitzsche had planned to work on the album before his sudden death last year. Still, his influence is felt from the get-go; Nitzsche's characteristic ueber-orchestration is evident in the giant crescendo that opens the album. Buoyed by an earnest piano melody, the song's lyrics introduce the dream motif. The spaciness of the second song, "Tides of the Moon" complements its title perfectly, giving guitarist Grasshopper a moment in the spotlight. "Lincoln's Eyes" is a haunting lullaby, complete with darkly poetic lyrics and an oblique melody. "Nite and Fog" is another stunning accomplishment; Fridmann places quivering strings and drums at the front of the mix.

The second half of the album is somewhat lighter, though no less strange. "A Drop in Time" sounds like a Baroque children's song. "Spiders and Flies" stands out, as well, a beautiful ballad about nothing and everything. Like much of the album, it offsets plaintive phrases with literary imagery:

Psalms and spells, magic blast
Who cares what they cast
I dreamed I'd always love you complete
I never thought I'd hear you scream.

Though they may read like nonsense, the lyrics work. This is because Mercury Rev inhabits its own fantastic universe, full of bells and organs, spacemen and bogeymen. Indeed, insular vision makes them more than just a pop oddity; the group's music is timeless without being redundant, emotionally effecting without being direct, strange without being esoteric. But perhaps Mercury Rev's boldest achievement on All Is Dream is its ability to be thoroughly dreamy without succumbing to drugginess.

If Mercury Rev were any less self-indulgent, its music would be ridiculous. Instead the group crafts ambitiously graceful prog-rock, deftly negotiating the grandest of pretentions. Not everyone will feel comfortable in the group's idiosyncratic world. Fortunately, that's precisely what makes it so engaging.

— David Zahl (zahlie@hotmail.com)