For Belgian band dEUS, The Ideal Crash marked a glossier, more commercial production than its two predecessors, Worst Case Scenario and In A Bar, Under The Sea. Fortunately, this didn’t mean the band had lost its identity; there was still the same crunching guitar noise and dissonant jazz flourishes. But now these elements were done with more subtlety, with a broader musical palette (synths, harmoniums, theremins) and a clearer sense of melody (summed up by Mojo magazine as “Semisonic go Beefheart”).

Upon release in March 1999, The Ideal Crash received plenty of positive reviews from the music press: Q and Select both awarded the album 4 out of 5 and the NME rated it 8 out of 10. Yet despite the initial acclaim, the album had disappeared off most critics’ radar come December and failed to appear on any of the major music publications’ albums of the year lists; this coming in a year not blessed with definitive album releases.

Paul Bovey

mercury rev - snowflake midnight

There have been a lot of bands releasing new albums that just dont cut it when compared to older efforts. So it was with some caution I approached the latest release from Mercury Rev. Fortunately this album does not disappoint.

The first track I heard off the album was senses on fire. You can download it for free from their site linky for free. You can also get the album strange attractor for free, the full album for nothing. Can’t argue with that. It’s an instrumental album by the way, in case you get it. Its meant to accompany this album (snowflake midnight) that you buy as normal in the shops. Anyways back to the track, which was recognisable as mercury rev but had a new sound to it. Limited lyrics with the line my senses on fire repeated but it works really well. It does take a few listens to hook you in, but it does.

So I was expecting the rest of the album to carry on with the same theme. Whilst it does have a new sound it maintains the elements that most people will have liked from classic album deserters songs. Snowflake in a hot world is classic mercury rev and more up tempo than previous offerings, as is butterflys wing.Vocals from Jonathan Donahue have such a distinctive tone that will always make them mercury rev. Combined with grasshopers creative sounds from moth-light guitars, clarinet, tettix wave accumulator to name but a few give the music many levels. Having a producer in your line up in the shape of Dave Fridmann doesn’t hurt either. Another favourite track is Faraway from cars, which sees the band back to a more relaxed sound.

So overall a great album and one that I highly recommend.

Si