From Mercury Rev yesterday to Mercury today, and hot of the press from last week's album release highlighted in Vinyl Tap a week ago prior to its release, we pick the final song of 17 from this space perspective following others from the solar system and Tides, Black Energy, Halley's Comet, Kuiper Belt, Moon, In The Beginning and Black Hole. Beautiful and diverse, the songs are very much musical paintings and interpretations, the lyrics touching on Greek myths and various themes, but here, on Mercury, as per yesterday's track, about change, insecurity and uncertainty. This particular track echoes the feel of Sufjan Stevens' acclaimed album Carrie & Lowell, a work that addressed the passing of his mother and her husband, and the unknown hangs in the air.
The recording fruition of a live project that first began five years ago, there is an appropriate otherworldly quality to the music, that of the turning spheres, the constant sense of change, of trying to reach resolution, and Stevens' collaborators bring their skills and influences very noticeably. Besides drummer James McAlister, composer Nico Muhly has worked with Philip Glass, Björk and on film scores, Bryce Dessner is guitarist with The National but as a composer has worked with Steve Reich and Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood. Again the world is on the move, and while none of us know where it is going, other than in revolution, its music remains wondrous.
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