Customer Reviews

The Secret Migration

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have been seriously listening to Mercury Rev since "Yerself Is Steam", and I enjoy the direction this band has taken. They started to gel with "Deserter's Songs", a highly evocative album of soundscapes, often bleak yet still hopeful. "All Is Dream" brought a more lush sound, characterized by the earlier open spaces in the music becoming filled in somewhat, and "The Secret Migration" continues in this direction. I like the quirkiness of their earlier material, but this band is good even when they aren't as quirky.

"The Secret Migration" doesn't sound as psychedelic to my ears as Mercury Rev's earlier albums. While there are certainly some trippy passages in which a listener can find themselves dreaming, these songs should be accessible to a fairly wide range of tastes. Jonathan Donahue's vocals are delicate, sweet and heartfelt, and the production and arrangements are exquisite. Some of the songs, particularly "My Love", and "Moving On" have a timeless quality.

This is music that should be taken on its own merits and not compared with previous Mercury Rev albums. If one can get past the differences between this effort and earlier efforts by Mercury Rev, the high quality of this musical experience will transport the listener to a place of optimism, magic and light. For me, this album evokes more emotions than most other CDs I own. It is a mature, fully realized work.

I highly recommend this one, whether or not you are a Mercury Rev fan. In times like these, I think we all need good doses of magic, nature and sunshine.

This is a wholly different mercury rev than found in Deserters songs, but rather than completely surrendering to optimism, I find them to actually bringing older elelments back into their sound. Yes, they are constantly singing about love in the forest. And they seem strangely upbeat and optimistic. And tehre ARE real choruses. But listen to those guitars! Grasshopper has always been one of my favourite guitarist because of his ability to make his guitar sound like anything from a beehive to a mushroom cloud. This was a band that got kicked off of the Lollapolooza tour for being too weird and sounding "like a bus idling out of control". Listen to "Arise", and you can sort of see how that could happen. It's the closest they have come to Yerself Is Steam in 15 years. Tehres a lot of this record that feels to me like they are saying, "ok, we've learned to make chaos, and that was too extreme and nobody liked it, so then we learned how to make pop songs and everybody liked that, so lets make REALLY poppy song and throw the chaos back in in the background and see how people like that."

I've been listening to Mercury Rev since seeing a review of them in 1991, and they are probably the only band from that era that I have been able to continually follow and be right there with every change and turn they have taken. To me they can do no wrong. And while this album has some repeated melodic motifs in the veres, they are cleverly twisted into all new melodic idea by the choruses, and the arranging and tight playing makes up for any other shortcomings. I amd a mix engineer in my spare time, and there is no quicker way to get down on your own skills and the skills of the band you are mixing then to listen to this album before a session. Next to Mercury Rev, everything else just sucks. Tons of subtlety and detail in this record. I saw them live a few months ago with Doves and they blew the headliners away. Had the whole crowd mesmerized. This band is really something, and should aboslutely be checked out by all. Its a sad state of affairs when 50 cent and Jessica Simpson are bigger than a band like Mercury Rev who still craft timeless musical magic.

As other reviewers have stated, it is a mistake to compare this album to MR's two previous gems (Deserter's Songs, All is Dream), because, frankly, they are maturing (a dirty word these days, apparently) and so is their sound. Forgive Jonathan Donahue for being optimistic and happy, and you can easily discover a fantastic pop album. Dave Fridmann continues his best production work (all with MR), and though the lyrics are often childlike in their simplicity, the sonic landscapes they create never are - a great combination

Something every band strives for is uniqueness. Yet only a handful of bands actually succeed. Most times their influences infect their musc in undesirable ways causing more boring music. Mercury Rev do not suffer from this disease and are one of the most unique sounds in music today.

While Secret Migration carries forward the successful elements of their past releases, it leaves behind some of the darkside. Where Deserter's Songs and All is Dream were dark and beautiful at the same time, Secret Migration has slightly faster sound.

Frontman, Jonathan Donahue's vocals are top-notch once again. Ushering dreamy melodies with hauntingly beautiful undertones. It's quite possible that's why this album doesn't work as well as the previous two. Donahue's voice is definitely better suited to the subdued styling versus this new faster sound.

This album isn't bad, but you'll need to be persistent, investing quite a few listens to get the full appreciation.

Six albums into their career and Buffalo, NY's Mercury Rev sound exactly like a perfect symphonic art rock band should.

The Secret Migration starts out perfectly with "Secret For A Song" -Dreamy Vocals, haunting piano, spacey guitar and great bass playing make this the standout cut on the record. It doesn't take long though before another great track appears #2 "Across Yer Ocean" is pushed by another great bass line and a very confident vocal. And while the lyrics can be quite "dreamy & fantasy-like" the vocal delivery makes it real easy to buy into them.

Other stand-out cuts include "Black Forest", "Vermillion", "Arise" & "In A Funny Way" the lead track which is bound to end up on a television commercial in the very near future, if it hasn't already.

Over the past several years Mercury Rev have been lumped into the Dave Fridmann world of alternative dream pop along with The Flaming Lips & Sparklehorse, all great bands. IMO, "The Secret Migration" is now the standard for all those other bands.

Lush, dreamy, epic, grandoise and at times veering towards prog, this isn't your older brother's Mercury Rev. And while I've liked just about all of Mercury Rev's works, this new sound- more fleshed out and slightly more progressive is their best yet.

For reasons unclear to me, Mercury Rev have always been far bigger in the UK than here. Their new one is a lush, richly produced slow-burner that reminds me of the Flaming Lips with better singing and less conceptual lyrics. The songs, nearly all of which are exquisite, sound like they originated on a vintage piano with the echo pedal held down. The other analog and digital instruments augment the spacey, dreamy, overall effect. In sum, the Secret Migration is just too good to remain a secret.

I have to start by saying that any comparison between The Secret Migration and Mercury Rev's two previous albums is useless: While the fantastic tone of the lyrics and the beauty of the musical composition remains, this album corresponds to a different stage in a developing process that Jonathan has built over the years. If we see him as the narrator of a fable, we would agree that he portrays the joy for the mere existence of a journey that might lead him to the happy ending. The claustrophobic sense of despair and loss from "Deserter's songs" and "All is dream" has given place to a brighter mood surrounded with allusions of apologetical fantasy (Vermillion) and even optimism (Moving on) and hope (Arise). It does take, however, some time to get used to this little masterpiece presented as it is: a conjunction of sparks of light and dots of shadows, but in the end shinning with a subtle warmth through melancholy pianos and alien guitar riffs. It is more than we can ask for a secret migration.

this is their most happy album to date. IF you're looking for their dark sound then perhaps you'll be disappointed. If you're lookin for their signature sound then you won't be disappointed as it is still intact.

I'd say this is for their hardcore fans and not for the casual ones.

Like in all their albums, I believe they have their good songs and some O.K. songs. This is just one more in their brilliant and interesting career.

I couldn't wait for this release..counting down the days. As a massive fan of the Rev (and similar bands eg Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Sparklehorse etc..)and their past releases especially Yerself is Steam, Deserter's Songs and All is Dream (in order of priority)a new release is a reason to rejoice. On first listen I was quite underwhelmed however I know these guys well and know that with persistence you will inevitabley fully realise the power, emotion and beauty of their magical music creations. Unfortunately this still has not done it for me. Secret Migration has it's moments eg the first 2 tracks Secret for a Song and Diamonds, In A Funny way and closing track Flying however a few good tracks does not make a classic album. For die hard fans only....and I know there are many.

source: www.alternativemalta.com

Mercury Rev became household names through the first class `Deserter's Songs', and now they are back with their sixth album `The Secret Migration'. Whereas Deserter's Songs' and the follow-up `All is Dream' were more focused on strings, this one harks back to their more psychedelic guitar-based albums such as "Your Self is Steam'.

Yet the pocket symphonies are still present and the music hasn't lost that spine-tingling quality that The Rev are known for. In fact I would say that this amalgamation between old and new enhances the sound, making a very enjoyable listening experience. Because of this factor I would definitely say that this is without any doubt whatsoever their best album by far, even eclipsing `Deserters Songs'. It would be useless to pinpoint the great tracks because they are all standouts - the haunting opener `Secret for a Song', the doubly-haunting `Vermillion', the chilling `In a Funny Way' are just a sample of what the band have achieved on this album. And the best thing is that this is going to be released in January 2005 - what a great omen for the scene in general!