MERCURY REV READIES FIRST NEW STUDIO ALBUM IN NEARLY FOUR YEARS
SNOWFLAKE MIDNIGHT, SET FOR SEPTEMBER 30 RELEASE ON YEP ROC RECORDS
INSTRUMENTAL COMPANION ALBUM STRANGE ATTRACTOR
AVAILABLE FOR FREE FROM MERCURYREV.COM ON RELEASE DAY
The New York Times has called the music of Mercury Rev "a free associative castle in the air, with every detail shimmering." On
Snowflake Midnight, (September 30/Yep Roc Records) the group's first
proper album in nearly four years, they tear the castle down.
Recorded over several months in late 2007/early 2008, and co-produced
by David Fridmann and Mercury Rev (who remain Jonathan Donahue,
Grasshopper, and Jeff Mercel), the nine new songs on Snowflake
Midnight mark a significant conceptual shift for the band. If its last
landmark release - 1998's Deserter's Songs - signaled a reinvention,
then Snowflake Midnight is a reboot.
In a sense, Mercury Rev had to "unlearn" twenty years of experience to
make Snowflake. "We wanted to let go of familiar and comfortable
ideas of sound and ways of working," says Mercel. Traditional
instruments gave way to vintage and cutting edge electronics. Songs
weren't written so much as they evolved. Order was abandoned, and
happenstance was embraced, resulting in one of the most fertile
creative outpourings in the band's history. Every song included on
Snowflake was edited, manipulated and distilled from hours of
recorded material.
A similarly painstaking process went into making Strange Attractor, a
companion album which will be made available as a free download, also
on September 30. This all-instrumental album shares some musical themes
with Snowflake Midnight but features eleven exclusive, all-new songs.
Fans can go to www.mercuryrev.com or www.yeproc.com to
receive download instructions. Strange Attractor will also accompany
the vinyl release of Snowflake Midnight.
At the behest of curators My Bloody Valentine, Mercury Rev will play
the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Catskills, NY on September 21.
Additional U.S. tour dates will follow this fall. Stay tuned for more
information.
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