Mercury Rev have announced details of their first new album in nine years, and shared its first single.
The trippy, twinkling Patterns, which features spoken word vocals from frontman Jonathan Donahue referencing artist Jackson Pollock, is the first taste of the eight-song Born Horses, the quartet's follow-up to 2015's The Light In You, set for release on September 6 via Bella Union.
“When we gaze up at the stars in the sky at night, the flickering lights seem random,” the band say in a statement about the single. “If we could zoom out and see all of the galaxies revolving around each other, we would see the order in it. There are only Patterns on top of Patterns…”
Listen to the song below.
“When Jonathan and I first met,” says guitarist/clarinetist/sound generator operator Grasshopper [aka Sean Mackowiak, “one thing we bonded over was Blade Runner, both Ridley Scott’s film and Vangelis’ soundtrack: that feel of the past and the future, the haunting noir mood and the romance of the future… ‘Born Horses’ taps into some of that.”
“Looking back to childhood, to Broadway tunes, to lonesome blues, Chet Baker, Miles Davis’ Sketches Of Spain, records that our parents listened to, but we put a twist into the future. From the beginning, Mercury Rev were on a cusp, between analogue and digital, hi-fi and lo-fi at the same time. It was like Brecht or Weill, the words suggesting visuals, and the visuals suggesting moods. We also thought a lot about the desert on this record, and the urban desert.”
The album tracklist is:
1. Mood Swings
2. Ancient Love
3. Your Hammer
4. Patterns
5. A Bird Of No Address
6. Born Horses
7. Everything I Thought I Had Lost
8. There’s Always Been A Bird In Me
The band have also announced an extensive tour schedule running through to March 2025, kicking off with five shows in Ireland in October.
Mercury Rev UK and Europe tour '24/'25
Oct 27: Belfast Mandela Hall, UK
Oct 28: Limerick Dolans Warehouse, Ireland
Oct 29: Galway Roisin Dub, Ireland
Oct 30: Cork Cyprus Avenue, Ireland
Oct 31: Dublin Button Factory, Ireland
Nov 02: Norwich Arts Centre, UK
Nov 03: Bristol Trinity, UK
Nov 04: Newcastle Boiler Shop, UK
Nov 06: Glasgow The Garage, UK
Nov 07: Leeds Brudenell Social Club, UK
Nov 08: Cambridge Junction, UK
Nov 09: Brighton Mutations Festival, UK
Nov 11: Amsterdam Paradiso, Holland
Nov 12: Leuven Het Depot, Belgium
Nov 13: Paris La Maroquinerie, France
Nov 15: Rolling Stone Beach Festival, Gerrmany
Nov 16: Copenhagen Bremen Theatre, Denmark
Nov 17: Johanneshov Slaktkyrkan, Sweden
Nov 18: Oslo Vulkan Arena, Norway
Mar 13: Liverpool Content, UK
Mar 14: Manchester New Century Hall, UK
Mar 18: Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, UK
Mar 19: London EartH, UK
