Customer Reviews
. - By: Neil, 19 Nov 2008 
Wow, some people have given this 5 stars! Well, let me say; I'm quite pleased about that, though I won't be joining them. The crux of the matter is that for me, this record is far too ambient.
You have to applaud the band's ambition - they've left their orchestral epic period behind, & started exploring new territory; this time it's electronic & techno sounds - unfortunately though, I don't find this album stimulatingin any way. It sounds very "pieced together", very inorganic, & it lacks the elements of previous records that I liked. I know The Secret Migration" got a panning by & large, but that one actually became my favourite Mercury Rev album - [hear me out...] it was a masterpiecein songwriting; damn near every tune invites you to sing along. On Snowflake Midnight, any time you think you hear a part that you can one day see yourself singing along to, the music pauses... & then changes completely - usually into non-descript ambience, & then holds that idea for... well, way too long. One thing you can say for it though: it sure is unpredictable.
Upon hearing this record I was the first to say that you can never fully appreciate a Mercury Rev album on the first listen (I hated The Secret Migration at first), but this one hasn't grown on me, & so I've decided my current judgement is the one I'm going to enter for posterity.
amazing - By: Ms. A. Parsons, 04 Nov 2008 
i loved this album. from the first listen i was transported to another world & gladly let rev take the reins.
i would suggest listening on an ipod as the music is definately better with full focus not just background noise.
mercury rev are a band with an individual sound, fantastic!
Ice and Fire - By: The Wolf, 01 Nov 2008 Further adventures from a small bright planet.
Mr Donahue & cohorts create an extraordinarily lush & vivid
soundworld for us with their new release 'Snowflake Midnight'.
These nine sumptuous tracks are almost overwhelmingin their
multilayered, scintillating, numinous complexity.
Structurally & melodically epicin scope, the densely constructed
thematic & rhythmic waves at times threaten to capsize the craft.
I am wholly willing to drown, however,in music of this imaginative
impetus, originality & quality.
Opening track 'Snowflake In A Hot World' drives along at a furious pace.
Piano, percussion & hard edged guitar supporting the disembodied high floating vocal.
'Butterfly's Wing' is a curiously lilting patchwork quilt of beatbox, crashing keyboard chords
and hauntingly disembodied childrens' voices. A magic garden of sound.
'Sense On Fire', with its slowly building rhythmic pulse & cataclysmic resolution
is a simple & single-minded idea followed through with uncompromising clarity of vision.
'People Are So Unpredictable' takes us into almost ambient territory with its'
delicate tapestry of shifting synth chords. All ice & fire.
The brief instrumental 'October Sunshine' is simply sublime.
'Runnaway Raindrop', 'Faraway From Cars' (with its' ecstatic handclapping) & the quirky
'A Squirrel & I ( Holding On....and Then Letting Go )' all engage our attention, imagination
and admiration.
The glorious 'Dream Of A young Girl As A Flower' is, however, the blooming heart of
this truly wonderful album. An epic compositionin every sense. So many ideas jostling
for attention without ever losing focus or coherence for a moment.
Challenging. Uplifting. Thrilling. A Quite Magnificent Achievement.
Essential.
Yet more great stuff from the Revsters. - By: J. P. Oley, 29 Oct 2008 More superb sounds, songs, ideas, production & loveliness from a superb band. I can't say that this is better than their last album - which also got mixed reviews but IMO is an astounding & amazing record - but comparing the two is a bit like asking which is the more beautiful; the night sky or sunrise?
Definitely a Grower - By: L. N. Nixon, 24 Oct 2008 The negative reviews elsewhere strike me as misguided. This album unfolds like a book, taking you through textures & sounds. The usual elliptical lyrics dropin & out & it manages the odd echo of the previous trio of their albums without ever sounding like a copy. It's certainly demanding & doesn't lend itself easily to being background music. But it does have the capacity to keep surprising you. I don't know how many times I'd been through it before the bizarre drumming & the strange elements that make up Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower' finally struck me. That track is like an exercisein throwing everything that shouldn't bein one song together & still coming up with a beautiful & strange concoction. If Mercury Rev came your way because you took Deserters Songs as a great piece of Americana, avoid this. If you see them as fearless sonic pioneers with a love of psychedelia & pushing the envelope on strange sounds, definitely investigate this.
