Mercurine- Waiting for Another Fall

Mercurine seem to have really found their sound. While their first release was an excellent collection of songs that ranged from gothic to synthpop to new wave, their newest effort is their first to truly sound like an album, blending experimental and ambient elements with a more conventional pop sensibility. While the progressive electronics and effects-laden guitar of tracks like “The Wish” and “StrangeTimesLove” call to mind such moody cult favorites as Curve and the Cure, it’s the weirder, more abstract elements that make this disk so brilliant. Programmer and vocalist Mera Roberts sings wistfully over guitarist Byron Brown’s undulating melodies on “Sunlightgreyskies,” while the shoegaze-influenced instrumental “Copper Rain” recalls the brilliant art-pop of such acts as His Name Is Alive. It’s “Bluemouse” that really defines this album, though. Both heavenly and eerie, the song features Roberts murmuring in soft echoes over ethereal electronics and Brown’s meandering guitars. Given its history – the song was inspired by Roberts’ near-fatal car accident last year – such lyrics as “You run in circles like your back is broken” are all the more chilling delivered in a ghostly whisper. The only possible complaint with this album is that there’s not enough of it; with nine tracks, it clocks in at just over a half hour. It’s a half hour of near perfection, however, emotionally involving and musically mature, showing a band that’s really come into its own. Appealing particularly to those of us who remember the golden age of 4AD Records, Mercurine is required listening for all fans of the blissful and melancholy.

Visit Mera and Byron online at www.mercurine.com.