Hometown: Buffalo, NY
Formed: late 1980's

Members:
Jonathan Donahue -vocals, guitar, sounds
David Fridman -bass, vocals
David Baker -vocals
Jimy Chambers -drums, electric piano
Suzanne Thorpe -flutes, french horn
Grasshopper -sounds

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

Flaming Lips collaborators Donahue and Fridman bring a love of the scintillating symphonic melange to this musical thinktank. Lush, whistleable melodies sway through this album like willow branches. Moog, fife, harp, xylophone and saxophone writhe in arabesques around the solid rock instrumentation to create celestial cinematic soundscapes.

The album opens with the 10-minute "Meth of a Rockette's Kick," setting the stage for a dizzying aesthetic which freely absorbs Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa and a florid bit of Donovan into just a few of its tenets. "Snorry Mouth" is carried aloft by Thorpe's whirling flute and Chambers' insistent drums before being gulped into someone's digestive engine room. The internal language of the lyrics lends itself nicely to some of the more lycergic moments, courtesy of Baker's distanced vocals.

If it sounds like a tangled mess, it is - but Boces is tempered with enough moments of transcendent delight to make it well worth a listen.

If you like Mercury Rev, check out:
Mercury Rev Deserter's Songs
Mercury Rev Yerself Is Steam
Mercury Rev See You On The Other Side
The Flaming Lips Clouds Taste Metallic
The Velvet Underground Loaded
Spiritualized Lazer Guided Melodies
Grasshopper and the Golden Crickets Orbit of Eternal Grace

psst...you might wanna check out our indie rock abode for more features on (guess what) indie rock bands.

-- p