Mercury Rev
Hello Blackbird

HELLO BLACKBIRD
flying in the strange airs of Mercury Rev

The most recent music release by Mercury Rev is a soundtrack titled "Hello Blackbird", composed for the film scoring of "Bye Bye Blackbird" (directed by Robinson Savary), which seems to still be unreleased in Italy. It's not the first time this band embarks on such an endeavor, but I believe there are quite a few musical differences from their early works.
On one hand, as a film enthusiast, it is difficult for me to talk about music for film without having seen the film, but on the other hand, independence from the emotions evoked by the viewing can aid in elaborating a strictly analytical discussion on the sound matter provided by the Buffalo group. First, I inform the readers, hoping not to disappoint them, that they will not find songs (except for the final milonga "Simply Because", sung by a female voice) but instrumental compositions that have nothing to do with the psychedelic noise of the beginnings.
When discussing music composed specifically for a film, it is necessary to distinguish between accompaniment, which emphasizes the filmic element based on formal similarities (e.g., the train passes, the orchestra imitates its noise), and commentary, which interprets the context of the event (for the above example, I insert a melody in the scene referring to the theme of travel or departure). The second necessary distinction must be made between three categories of musical intervention: the internal level (the music comes from a source in the scene, like a radio or a band), external (indeterminate origin, typical commentary or accompaniment music), or mediated (the source is always external but the melody associated with a character is like a sound subjective and often expresses the character's mood).

The instrumental compositions by Mercury Rev, mostly written by the guitarist Grasshopper, seem to me very sincere and not at all pandering (as are 90% of the soundtracks written by rock bands or pop stars), since they do not easily resort to the leitmotiv component and never stray from the cinematic discourse to return to "marketable" paths. At the risk of being wrong, not having seen the film, I dare to say that "Hello Blackbird" falls into the category of commentary mostly mediated level, rarely external. Indeed, it seems to me that these digressions can be considered as photographs of the inner world of the characters, or rather, I correct myself: moving images, like cinema, which sometimes illustrate slight anguish, other times melancholy, love, desire, and inspiration. From a purely musical perspective, the compositions are highly valid and original, even using traditional film scoring instruments like brass, woodwinds, harp, saw, percussion, xylophone, and the inevitable piano and strings. At times it feels like listening to a Morricone suite that develops through different thematic junctions, at other times it seems to hear the influence of the latest Eels ("Blackbird's Call"), and yet other times we return to the same Mercury Rev of "Deserter's Song". Certain pieces are evanescent frames, pure and lasting less than a minute, others are very long, like the nine minutes of "The White Birds" (one of the most successful), and they are articulated according to variations of the circus waltz. It is precisely this characteristic that leads me to state, although I cannot consider the effectiveness of the syncs, that the authors in writing remained well linked to the thematic matter of the film: the fact there are dreamlike, disturbing, almost spiritual fragments, suitable for brief nocturnal shots, as well as extensive soundscapes perhaps related to sequence shots or wide camera movements. Very often, on a bass basis, the high tinkling of bells or xylophones is inserted, and in this case, the experiments of Eno for "Heroes" come to mind, on other occasions the tempo of the score is fast, syncopated, lively, yet light. Consequently, the general tone of the work turns out to be quite varied, there are sounds of broad breathing, like breaths of fresh air but with an ancient flavor, as well as dusty intuitions enclosed in a wooden box; the melodies are now furrowed by rays of sunshine, now silver like lunar beams, or they move along some possible gradations between these "extremes"; it is also due to this fluid evolution of sounds that I have avoided citing the titles of individual tracks: if perhaps they risk losing importance taken separately, on the other hand, they gain a grand sense taken all together in their complementing each other, in their transforming and grafting into each other.

From what I've read on the internet, the story told in "Bye Bye Blackbird" vaguely reminds me of "Wings of Desire": there is a circus involved, a whispered pain, the desire to change, a new life, and a secret desire. I believe the story is treated with delicacy and passion, precisely the same feelings evoked by the soundtrack. In conclusion, I am glad to see Mercury Rev back in full form after the half-disappointment of "The Secret Migration" and the bitterness left by perhaps having to wait still long for new songs and a more typical music release is immediately mitigated by the clarity (sometimes opaque, but not meant as a flaw) of these curious atmospheres set between the emphatic and the minimal. Now I will wait to see the film to confirm if they actually work linked to the sensations suggested by the movie.