Song of the Day: Mercury Rev - The Queen of Swans

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “The Queen of Swans” by Mercury Rev from the 2015 album The Light In You on Bella Union.

Mercury Rev - The Queen of Swans (MP3)

It's been seven long years since we last heard from veteran New York band Mercury Rev, but this year they broke the silence with The Light In You, their eighth full-length of kaleidoscopic psych-pop. “You can go as deep as you want with the title, on a metaphorical, spiritual level, or just poetic license,” says frontman Jonathan Donahue. “It’s the beacon that shines and allows us to see ourselves – and then there’s the music between [co-founder] Grasshopper and I, which is how we reflect each other. The arc of the album, lyrically, is someone who’s gone through an incredible period of turbulence, sadness and uncertainty, and as the album progresses, a light appears on the water.”

It's the first album Donahue and Grasshopper have produced themselves; highly-sought-after producer Dave Fridmann has been behind the controls as almost a "third member" since their 1991 debut Yerself Is Steam, but scheduling conflicts left the boys to their own devices. The result is an album just as lush as anything from their back catalog, as you can hear in this exquisitely orchestrated single, "The Queen Of Swans."

Mercury Rev close out the action-packed year with shows through Europe, Japan, and Australia, but no Seattle dates yet. Keep watch on their Facebook and Twitter, and enjoy a live rendition of today's Song of the Day below, performed at The Outer Space in Hamden, CT.