MERCURY REV

Born Horses (Bella Union)

Along with their compatriots Grandaddy, Sparklehorse and the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev came to prominence in the mid-90s with an increasingly baroque take on alt-rock/Americana, an exploration of the inner space parallel with the wide expanses of their physical locale. Never knowingly unambitious, Born Horses is an album drenched in lush jazz arrangements, opener Mood Swings sets the tone, swinging away whilst Jonathan Donahue leaves his usual faltering vocals to one side, speaking to the listener in a manner recalling both William Shatner and Ken Nordine. 

The initial effect of these spoken vocals is initially disconcerting, you long for the fragility of vocals past at first but the sensation passes, this is merely the Rev reinventing themselves again, examining their psyches and finding new ways of communicating what they find along the way. Epic yet still intimate, spoken though still musical, Born Horses is Mercury Rev’s bravest release since Deserter’s Songs.

words PAUL JENKINS