CD Review

Sure, Mercury Rev share the same hot shot producer of The Flaming Lip on The Secret Migration. Sure, lead singer Jonathan Donahue was even once a roadie for the Flaming Lips. And sure, Donahue even sings in the same childish wonder of Wayne Coyne, while narrating like Bob Ross, with words of "swirling clouds" and "green forests." But does that mean that Mercury Rev is a Flaming Lips clone? No way.

These upstate New Yorkers have been playing experimental rock long before Coyne made fake blood splattered on a white sport jacket a fashion statement. On theirfirst album in four years and their sixth overall, The Secret Migration proves short and focused. Straying from the elaborate epic themes of prior Mercury Rev releases, which includes the 1998 epic Deserter’s Songs, the band goes compact this time aroun. Donahue uses the keyboard as a main instrumental balance for his voice and offers condensed versions of his imagination.

With the help of wonder-kind producer Fridmann, Mercury Rev nails the two opening songs "Secret For A Song" and "Across Yer Ocean," When Donahue sings "If I were a white horse and offered you a ride through a black forest," the Rev provides its true calling card, while "Vermillion" conjures pure wide screen animation, with its breakneck beat. Sure, The Secret Migration sounds a little bit light on its feet and could use a bolt of thunder here and there, but then again so could the Flaming Lips.