Like all good bands, Mercury’s Antennae hops many generic boundaries as it builds its unique sound. Vaguely gothic, or at least darkwave at its core, Among The Black Trees is an album that weaves all manner of peripheral sonics through that dark heart: ambient drifts and chilled electronica, dream-pop ethereality and more complex shoegaze sounds, post-punk grooves, and neo-classical moves.
At one extreme, we find the almost industrial yet harshly beautiful sounds of “Permian,” an exercise in taking sharp edges and abrasiveness, razor wire guitars, and walls of noise and turning them into something beguiling and cinematic in their own way. At the other end, “Language of the Stars” drifts through the listener’s consciousness gracefully, spaciously, and atmospherically, proving that often, it is the most understated of sounds that can cast the most powerful spell.
Between such extremes, tracks like “Reflecting Skin” remind us of just how great and grand the gothic sound could be before plagiarists and copycats turned it into something of a cliche, before it lost it’s identity to rock and roll, and “As I Lay Hidden (Deer Island)” is cinematic sonic world-building at its most brilliant.
But given the caliber of the musicians here, a trio comprised of The Palace of Tears’ multi-instrumentalist,Erick R. Scheid and This Ascension’s vocalist and bassist, Dru Allen and Cindy Coulter respectively, you always knew that something great would be the result of their collaboration. Even then, you might not have expected something quite this exquisite. Oh, ye of little faith!
