Favorite Americana players, known for their dreamy sounds, are finally back. Seven years after releasing the Snowlake Midnight and Strange Attractor, they have put up a new record made of two halfs of two different albums. One is yoga and meditation for indie rockers, hipsters and all those who feel like that while the other one is a collection of compositions that are evidence how sick is Jonathan Donahue from recording orchestral lullabies. Even though their long term associate Dave Friedman was not included in the production of this album, it sounds great.
The first half of the new collection The Light In You is exactly what their fans want to hear and they can get it in high quality, in technicolor. Just like they deserve after a long hiatus. The Queen of Swans, Amelie, You’ve Gone With So Little For So Long and especially Central Park East are tracks so magnificent that many artists would sell few internal organs If they could have it on their own records. It is a music that creates images in the dark, in the silence, in the stillness and it takes a listener to the kingdom of secrets.
As the album goes, there is a lot of diversity (to be politically correct). The rest of the album offers great tracks (Coming Up For Air, Autumn’s In The Air), good tracks (Moth Light), good enough tracks (Emotional Free Fall) and ridiculous tracks (Rainy Day Record, Sunflower). After Autumn’s In The Air, the album suddenly jumps to dance pop number Are You Ready, an intersection of Robbie Williams and Bruno Mars. Sunflower is a nice try that sounds like Tina Turner’s sister who is not very talented.
Rainy Day Record contains hip hop and marching sections. What we can conclude from this track is than Donahue does not how to rap and that he should leave African American music alone. Still, the track itself is a fun reminder that reminds us that life is sometimes made of failures.
The Light In You is better record than Snowflake Midnight that shows how Mercury Rev still got it.
