Hometown: Buffalo, NY
Formed: late 1980's

Members:
Jonathan Donahue -vocals, acoustic guitar, chamberlin strings
David Fridman -piano, bass, mellotron
Adam Snyder -B3, mellotron, wurlitzer
Jimy Chambers -clavinet, harpsichord, drums
Suzanne Thorpe -flutes
Grasshopper -guitar reels, vocals, woodwinds

Bands in the family :
Harmony Rockets, Shady, Flaming Lips, The High Llamas

Notes:
Debuted with Yerself Is Steam in 1991 while Fridman (as co-producer) and Donahue (as support guitarist) were helping The Flaming Lips with Hit to Death in the Future Head. A number of tension-ridden tours began to take their toll on the members' long-flagging morale, but failed to mar 1993's splendid Boces. Two years later, the band ousted the volatile Baker (who went solo as Shady), recorded See You on the Other Side and a chaotic, improvisatory album under the name Harmony Rockets. Deserter's Songs is their latest release.

Links:
Interview with Mercury Rev

Deserter's Songs sounds eerily familiar, like a warped collection of old standards. "Opus 40," for instance, comes to a head on the melody of the Beatles' "Golden Slumbers," itself a reworking of a Brahms composition. And listen to the flugelhorn (?!) on "Endlessly." That's "Silent Night." Yes it is. Listen again. Told you.

On "Holes," Jonathan Donahue fades wistfully out of the second verse, breathing the line "How does that old song go..." over muted horns. And that's Deserter's Songs all over - the sound of a stubbornly progressive, even futuristic rock band fumbling around in a musical memory they've suddenly, joyously recovered.

While Donahue's songwriting has embraced traditional folk and pop, the band's arrangements are, if anything, more adventurous than ever. For all the talk of the album's roots elements (e.g. - recorded near Woodstock, the presence of The Band's Levon Helm on "Opus 40," lots of old instruments), this airy, spooky sound is only a distant relative of Music from Big Pink. Mercury Rev take bowed saws, French horns and upright bass and make them sound more contemporary than an army of samplers. The roof-raising closer, "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp," is the perfect example: It clearly began life as a back-porch piano stompalong (hence the title), but has evolved into a psychedelic house beast that renders the inevitable Chemical Brothers mix virtually redundant. And that's a journey not many bands will take.

If you like Mercury Rev, check out:
Mercury Rev See You On The Other Side
Mercury Rev Boces
Mercury Rev Yerself Is Steam
Gomez Liquid Skin
The Charlatans Tellin' Stories
Primal Scream Screamadelica
The Boo Radleys Giant Steps
Super Furry Animals Radiator
Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Grasshopper and the Golden Crickets Orbit of Eternal Grace

-- jf

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