Phonology

Having formed in the late 1980s, it took Mercury Rev a good ten years to break through into public consciousness. Their moment of glory, Deserter's Songs (1998), was a critical and popular success, laden with ghostly soundscapes and the eerie sound of a musical saw. Now, seven years later, their psychedelic leanings have been drenched in reverb and lost in a wall of sound.
    The Secret Migration is in some ways a masterpiece of dreamy psychedelic pop. From the hallucinatory mothwoman artwork on the cover, to the fey lyrics and thin, reedy vocals it's trippy through and through. But not much more. The piano is often beautifully played, but the songs themselves only hint at the anthems they might have been. In fact, it's very much like a weaker Flaming Lips album.
The overdubbed vocal harmonies give a lightness in tracks like Diamonds and the too brief Moving On, but they're too light. There's some exceptional drumming on the album, particularly in Black Forest (Lorelei), but technical proficiency doesn't make up for the fact that the individual parts just never gel. The production is almost entirely made up of reverb and echo, but instead of creating a formidable wall of sound, it's overblown, like wading through a swamp with Tori Amos.

    The keyboard and synth sounds are stuck in the mid eighties, but not in a good way, and Jonathan Donahue's vocals, unique and unselfconscious seem to grate quite rapidly. The lyrics are acid washed love poetry through and through, and sorry, we've had our fill. The highlight of the album, In a Funny Way, is the only point where they really get it right. Here the drums take centre stage with a straightforward 60s pop rhythm and some meticulous jangly and twangy guitars.

    It would be a shame to see such obvious talent and musicianship go to waste, but with this album, it seems Mercury Rev have jumped the shark.

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