Deserter’s Songs

I remember hearing "Goddess On A Hiway" on Jo Whiley's Channel 4 show and immediately falling in love with it, the rest of the album doesn't quite live up to this nostalgic high, even though its Flaming Lips coded, but it's pretty alright overall.

Pretty cool.

After the second listen, I was generally pretty indifferent to this album. Some songs were great and really interesting (the Funny Bird) and others were really not for me. 3/5

I really didn't like this album at first, until I realized I was listening to the instrumental version.

Oops, the one with lyrics is much better.

I didn't like any of the tracks on this album. However, the music didn't bother me either. I don't need to hear it again, but it doesn't make me want to turn it off. 3/5

Nekako, nešto ovdje funkcioniše. 2-3 pjesme se baš ističu, ostalo se zaboravi dok se sluša. Čak i te bolje pjesme su sve što mi inače smeta ali dosta fine.

This is pleasant but kinda put me to sleep. Was expecting it to pick up a bit at some point. It’s okay that it didn’t really though.

This is a really odd album. I kind of like it. I had never heard of this band at all before, so that's always welcome. I don't really know what to say about this album - it's not really what I would think of as typical shoegaze or indie as it's categorized here. There are elements of that, sure, but there's some avant garde in there, some pop elements. Goddess On A Hiway seemed familiar to me, maybe I've heard a cover of that song? I don't know but I liked that song a lot. Although I liked some of the weirder parts of this album, I think it would have been better to maybe take that stuff out and write 2-3 more actual songs. But I enjoyed it enough regardless. 3/5

There were better artists by the name of Mercury that I could have been listening to

1.72

90’s chamber pop with some outstanding tracks

Fine. Forgettable.

David Fridmann was on fire that year. With this and The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin. I prefer this for its more wistful blasted tone.

I thought I knew his voice from somewhere... 😄

It was interesting. Started out with much more potential than I expected, but then started to drag a bit. 3/5

The singing is a little weird, and I don't like the occasional lo-fi moments (e.g., I Collect Coins and the end of Pick Up If You're There), but aside from that I enjoyed the album. I thought they were playing a theremin on multiple tracks, but apparently this is the "Tettix Wave Accumulator"? Sounds like a theremin to me. Anyway, a little weird, but I like it. I'd revisit. Favorite tracks: Holes (really liked the trumpet at the end), Opus 40, Hudson Line, Goddess on a Hiway, The Funny Bird, Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp.

Aggressively middling to listen to. Can't say I really hated or disliked any part of it I listened to, but I found myself quite bored with a lot of what was presented here. Probably a big influence and all for some otherwise it wouldn't be on the list, but I can't differentiate this from a billion other indie pop musicians and bands also in existance.

Flaming hot!

If this is considered some of their best work, I don't want to imagine what anything else they've put out sounds like. The vocals were really off-putting to me, but whatever "instrument" made the weird noises throughout the record made me skip through songs hoping the next would not have the same issue. 2/5

I wish it was a bit more consistent, but the best moments are REALLY damn good.

3.5/5