Mercury Rev Unveil Celestial Opus 'Ancient Love'

Legendary psychedelic rock band Mercury Rev return with their brand new studio album Born Horses due out September 6 via Bella Union. Lead single “Patterns” earned acclaim spanning Pitchfork, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Consequence, Under The Radar, NME and Clash. Now, they have unveiled new single “Ancient Love,” an enchanting celestial opus. The band shares, “What we are today comes from our thoughts and perceptions of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life for tomorrow. Our life is the creation of our mind which originates from ancient love.”

Recently hailed by Pitchfork with a 9.3 for their 1991 classic Yerself Is Steam, Mercury Rev has been revered for their experimental artistry and challenging the status quo throughout their career. The new collection is a glistening psych-jazz-folk-baroque-ambient quest highlighting the band’s sophisticated instrumentation, met with heroic indie rock chops and offering a fresh new poetic perspective.

Born Horses is vocally inspired by the spirits of art minimalist Tony Conrad (LaMonte Young’s Dream Syndicate w/ John Cale and a close friend to The Velvet Underground) and beat poet Robert Creeley (one of the most influential American poets of the 20th century and an associate of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and the Black Mountain poets), acolytes of progressive thought and action who both taught at the University at Buffalo, the city where the band was formed.

The album title, named after the majestically rippling sixth track “Born Horses”, was chosen because its words resonate through the entire record, encompassing the idea of flight (“I dreamed we were born horses waiting for wings”) and the phrase “You and I” that appears at different junctures on the album. This is not the concept of two separate people, but two parts of oneself.  

Additionally, Mercury Rev have announced news of international tour dates including an Autumn European tour and further UK shows in early 2025. Full list of dates here.

Born Horses tracklist:

1. Mood Swings

2. Ancient Love

3. Your Hammer, My Heart

4. Patterns

5. A Bird Of No Address

6. Born Horses

7. Everything I Thought I Had Lost

8. There’s Always Been A Bird In Me

Photo Credit: Joe Magistro