(2021) Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight [Deluxe Edition]


Review:
Mercury Rev are as at one with nature as ever on Snowflake Midnight, an album whose title reflects its delicately frosty electronics and late-night meditations perfectly. Jonathan Donahue is still an unabashed romantic, empathizing with a snowflake’s plight on the album opener “Snowflake in a Hot World,” finding deeper meaning in its fleeting beauty and individuality. Even though its exclamations (“You’re not the same!”) are a little over the top, the wide-eyed lyricism the band attempted on Secret Migration finds more focus and restraint on this song and throughout Snowflake Midnight. Instead of piling on more and more sounds and sentimental lyrics like they did with their previous album, here Mercury Rev simplify and let the music suggest moods, rather than making it too obvious how these songs should make listeners feel. “October Sunshine”‘s Eno-esque synth washes capture a waning sunbeam so clearly you can almost see the dust particles hovering in it, and though “Senses on Fire” is little more than the title repeated over and over while beats and riffs surge and float, its in-the-moment joy makes it one of Snowflake Midnight‘s brightest highlights. A more minimal Mercury Rev is still pretty widescreen, though: “Butterfly’s Wing” layers fluttery textures, masses of vocal harmonies, and children’s laughter into something as majestic yet personal as anything on All Is Dream or Deserter’s Songs. However, there are only a handful of epics on Snowflake Midnight, including the nearly eight-minute “Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower,” which moves from dark electronics and to vibrant rock like night into day. While there are few stumbles — “People Are So Unpredictable (There’s No Bliss Like Home)” gets dangerously close to being overblown, and “Runaway Raindrop”‘s oddly gurgling bass distracts from the rest of the track — as a whole, Snowflake Midnight works as a soothing, gently inspiring song cycle, the likes of which Mercury Rev hasn’t made since See You on the Other Side.





Track Listing:
Disc 1
01 - Snowflake in a Hot World
02 - Butterfly's Wing
03 - Senses On Fire
04 - People Are So Unpredictable (There's No Bliss Like Home)
05 - October Sunshine
06 - Runaway Raindrop
07 - Dream of a Young Girl As a Flower
08 - Faraway from Cars
09 - A Squirrel and I (Holding On... And Then Letting Go)

Disc 2
01 - Is That You?
02 - Triumphant Elephant
03 - Evening Delight
04 - The Witches of Mink Hollow
05 - Lullaby for Legs Diamond
06 - Upstairs at the Continental
07 - Brainwave Concerto #12 at John Zorn's Place
08 - Cfny in the Mid Eighties (Sounds Like)
09 - The Recurring Dream of Marv Levy
10 - Belles of Kingston
11 - The Flying Saucer
12 - Remember That Time When We...

Disc 3
01 - Saturday in the Dark
02 - The Fall of Sophia
03 - Mayor in a Cathouse
04 - The Giant Courthouse Screw
05 - 4am Trains Across Kingston
06 - Flashback and Freedom
07 - Stepping in and Stepping Out
08 - Last Train to Poughkeepsie

Disc 4
01 - Snowflake in a Hot World (Live, Black Sessions, 2008)
02 - October Sunshine (Live, Black Sessions, 2008)
03 - You're My Queen (Live, Black Sessions, 2008)
04 - People Are So Unpredictable (Live, Black Sessions, 2008)
05 - Butterfly's Wing (Live, Leeds, 2008)
06 - Dream of a Young Girl As a Flower (Live, Leeds, 2008)
07 - The Dark Is Rising (Live, Black Sessions, 2008)
08 - Senses On Fire (Live, Black Sessions, 2008)

Disc 5
01 - Love Is Pure
02 - Taken Up Into Clouds, Changed, and Rained Down
03 - Pure Joie de la Solitude
04 - Persistence and the Apis Mellifera
05 - Fable of a Silver Moon
06 - Loop Lisse, Loop
07 - In My Heart, a Strange Attractor
08 - Incident On Abeel Street
09 - Af Den Fader Kommer Den Sol
10 - Because Because Because
11 - Nocturne for Norwood
12 - Butterfly's Wing (Isan Alien Adoption Remix)
13 - Senses On Fire (Fujiya and Miyagi Remix)
14 - Butterfly's Wing (Carlos Anthony Molina '4 On the Flux' Mix)
15 - Senses On Fire (Holden Mix)


Media Report:
Genre: indie-pop, indie-rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits