The Depths · All albums

Deserter's Songs

Mercury Rev · 1998

• Scores: Noise 1, Unease 1, Complexity 2 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Rock, Psychedelic pop
• Mood: dreamy, wistful, luminous
• Sound: orchestral psych-pop, flute and strings, woozy production, falsetto vocals, lush arrangements, piano, slow tempos

Deserter's Songs replaces most of Mercury Rev's guitar noise with strings, horns, woodwinds and keyboards. Recorded in the Catskill Mountains over about six months with Dave Fridmann, it uses flutes, a bowed saw, Chamberlin strings, Mellotron and harpsichord, with Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of The Band guesting on drums and saxophone. A hidden track after "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp" is played on a custom instrument, the Tettix Wave Accumulator, and the album was mastered to 35mm magnetic film for a cinematic sound. Fridmann made it in the same studio as the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin, and the two bands shared gadgets and ideas.

Track list

1. Holes (5:55)
2. Tonite It Shows (3:40)
3. Endlessly (4:25)
4. I Collect Coins (1:27)
5. Opus 40 (5:10)
6. Hudson Line (2:54)
7. The Happy End (The Drunk Room) (2:06)
8. Goddess on a Hiway (3:45)
9. The Funny Bird (5:51)
10. Pick Up If You're There (3:05)
11. Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp (6:17)