Mercury Rev
All Is Dream
On Sale Now
For $13.75

The follow-up to 1998's critically-lauded Deserter's Songs, All is Dream by New York's Mercury Rev is the logical extension of the rich textures and lush arrangements of its predecessor. Leaving their space rock/noise-heavy sound of the early 1990s further behind, Mercury Rev are now much more concerned with beauty, highly unusual arrangements, and creating a fantastical atmosphere, which the listener ultimately finds either intriguing or pretentious. Like Deserter's Songs, singing saws, spacey keys and organ effects, and lead singer Jonathan Donahue's high-lonesome vocals and highly naturalistic and image laden lyrics are all present throughout the record, making for quite an intriguing listen from my vantage point.

"Tides of the Moon" is a haunting track that sonically seems to capture the depiction of its title to gorgeous effect with a lovely fade in and the constant swaying of Donahue's vocal melody. Likewise, "Nite and Fog," the album's best song, encompasses the Mercury Rev sound perfectly: sumptuous bass/drum rhythms, a lulling flute in the distance, tremendous strings, a cathartic chorus, and Donahue's touching lyrics ("Who knows exactly what I'm after? / Nite and fog are my days"). A pretty pedal steel guitar ties "Little Rhymes" together, giving it a fresh country sound and one of many genre influences on All is Dream. Much like The Band, Mercury Rev make timeless music that stands outside of any particular period, a credit to the Rev's songwriting talent and the production work of Dave Fridmann.

However, All is Dream also suffers a few setbacks. The opener, "The Dark is Rising," and "A Drop in Time" are far too theatrical and bloated, which most of the tracks on the album easily avoid becoming. Additionally, the fragility of Donahue's voice wears slightly, as do some of his cumbersome lyrics ("A year is just a drop in time / It cannot touch the female form in my bed"). Perhaps the biggest drawback of All is Dream (aside from its gaudy cover) is that it is not much of a change from Deserter's Songs. Whereas previous Rev efforts all took drastically new directions from their predecessors, All is Dream is more of very good sequel. This is not to discount the record by any means, for it is a bright spot in an otherwise bleak musical year and further positive evidence for the validity of the American neo-psych genre.

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