Over three decades removed from the release of their debut album, Mercury Rev have become a buzz band all over again with the recent extensive shoegaze revival. Yet although their name has materialized upon countless listicles highlighting the genre’s first wave of artists, their influence extends far beyond the realm of dream-pop, as their psychedelically shaded sound has crossed over into chamber pop, alt-country, space rock, and beyond over the course of 10 albums.
Unsurprisingly, their eleventh album continues this experimental streak. The singles leading up to Born Horses—the New Yorkers’ first album since The Delta Sweete Revisited, their 2019 collection of collaborations paying homage to country-soul icon Bobbie Gentry—have suggested the influence of Beat poetry and minimalist composition, with jazz and classical instrumentation aiding the band’s ambient blend of sound. Yet as the band’s members explain, that set of influences goes much deeper, with ’60s British prog-rockers Bachdenkel being listed on the influences playlist they’ve shared with us, alongside Chicago’s cult krautrockers Bitchin Bajas, Greek new-age figure Iasos, and a handful of iconic figures among jazz and classical music.
With Born Horses landing this Friday via Bella Union, Mercury Rev band members Grasshopper, Marion Genser, Jesse Chandler, and Jonathan Donahue each gave us a brief rundown on who they cited for inspiration on their latest record. Read what they had to say about each of their picks below, and pre-order the new LP here.
GRASSHOPPER
Chet Baker, “In a Sentimental Mood”
Recorded in early 1988 during a stay in Rome, this interpretation of the song initiates an existential space where music blends in with poetry, creating a world of word and sound. The color of Chet’s trumpet and voice invoke a restless struggle with time, deep in a dream.
Carla Bley and Phil Woods, “Lost in the Stars”
This album compiles various artists’ renditions of German/American composer Kurt Weill’s songs, directed by Hal Wilner. Carla Bley and Phil Woods’ rendition of “Lost in the Stars” is mesmerizing.
David Sylvian, “Gone to Earth”
This song (and the album it comes from) is a masterpiece of otherworldly musical explorations of “noir balladry” with contributions by Robert Fripp and Bill Nelson creating guitar atmospheres alongside flugelhorn players Kenny Wheeler and Harry Becket and soprano sax player Mel Collins.
MARION GENSER
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, “Hymn of the Cherubim”
“The Hymn of the Cherubim” is considered by many to be one of the most exalted works of religious music ever composed, and as a child it was my father who opened me to this kind of music. He had studied organ music and played Gregorian chorales while raised in a monastery and he always loved to say, “We are all spiritual beings and vibrations flow very naturally through us.”
The Cure, “The Same Deep Water as You” (Live at Wembley)
A 10-minute song that takes you by the hand and slowly drags you under the deep water. It definitely had a profound effect on me when I first heard it with closed eyes.
Mozart, “Ave Verum Corpus” (conducted by Leonard Bernstein)
Mozart wrote it for Anton Stoll, a friend who was the church musician of St. Stephen in Baden bei Wien. The autograph is dated June 17, 1791. It’s like a hymn. This piece makes me smile through tears and miss a time and a place I no longer remember clearly.
JESSE CHANDLER
Alice Coltrane, “Journey in Satchidananda” (Live at Carnegie Hall)
I chose this live version from Carnegie Hall in 1971 because it has a beautiful flute solo from Pharoah Sanders. A few years back I was visiting my brother in Long Island and we happened to stop by the Coltrane house in Huntington as they were working on it, so we got a free tour! The basement is where Alice’s harp and piano were set up, and where she recorded the Journey in Satchidananda album. We felt such a special energy there, and that energy pervaded this recording, and all her music.
Bitchin Bajas, “World B. Free”
Bitchin Bajas are an exquisite Chicago band I’ve been following since seeing them open for Stereolab a few years back. They have a magical sound where they create a warm bed of synths with woodwinds—I’ve always enjoyed artists who can hold you in a certain space for a length of time, and this band certainly does that.
Iasos, “Lueena Coast”
Iasos was a Greek artist. I don’t know too much about him other than that he crafted this mystical, beautiful record in 1975 with all these dreamy textures that remind me of anyone from Terry Riley to Keith Jarrett to Les Baxter or Erik Satie.
Paul Horn, “Raga Desh”
Paul Horn, who played woodwinds with Chico Hamilton and then later with Joni Mitchell as well as on Pet Sounds, made these amazing recordings when he went to India and Kashmir in the ’60s and played and studied with musicians over there. I’ve always loved the juxtaposition of Western and Eastern influences and instruments.
JONATHAN DONAHUE
Marty Robbins, “The Streets of Laredo”
My da's family were Irish Catholics from Cork who settled on Panther Mountain and the Big Indian Valley in the Catskills following the Great Hunger in the 1850s. My da loved songs about guns, fighting, and dying, and Marty Robbin’s albums could always be found atop the 1960s wooden stereo console.
M. Mussorgsky, “Night on Bald Mountain”
My ma’s family were Jews from the Carpathian Mountains above what was once Transylvania who decided to settle in the Catskills because it reminded my great grandmother of her homeland. In my first childhood, my ma would play this piece before sending me out trick-or-treating in a homemade Lucifer costume.
Bachdenkel, “An Appointment with the Master”
A Birmingham band from the early 1970s who may have written one of the 20th century's greatest albums surrounding the attraction and subsequent disillusionment of guru worship that littered the spiritual landscape of the “Me” decade. Although we eventually recorded a “reimagining” of Bobbie Gentry's “Delta Sweete,” originally we worked up our own version of the album Lemmings from whence this song comes.
