The Mercury Program – Chez Viking

Words: Gareth O’Malley

They say that you should never judge a book – or in this case, an album – by its cover, but if you were to make assumptions about The Mercury Program’s fourth record, ‘Chez Viking’ based on its cover displaying an image of tranquility, guessing that within lay an album heavy on ambience and atmospherics, you would be absolutely spot-on. The US-based quartet (from Gainsville, Florida, to be precise), consisting of Dave Lebleu on drums, Sander Travisano on bass, his brother Whit on vibraphone and piano, and Tom Reno completing the line-up on guitar, are pitched towards the more minimal styles of post-rock. They’ve been an entirely instrumental outfit since 2001’s EP ‘All The Suits Began To Fall Off’.

The thing that I like the most about this record is that it creates its own little world for the listener to get lost in for thirty or so minutes. The songs that make up the album are quite easy to just get lost in on initial listens, but as time passes, little details begin revealing themselves.

Not the most easily accessible album due to less of an emphasis on melody (all seven songs’ hooks can be best described as skeletal), the band are clearly focusing on the rhythm section of Lebleu and Travisano. The former really is an astonishing drummer. I myself am a sticksman, so I can appreciate a band if their drummer is even half-decent – but Lebleu really is something else. His work here is jazz-influenced and simply outstanding, particularly on the percussive ‘Stand And Sing’ (which I really feel is far too short). Brooding seven-minute epic ‘Katos’ is the centrepiece of ‘Chez Viking’, driven by a mesmerising bass line courtesy of Travisano. Second track ‘Departed/Arrived’ – recently featured on our weekly playlist becomes a standout. The addition of steel drums to a number of the tracks adds quite a lot to the album – even such a small thing as this being thrown into the mix increases its power exponentially.

This is quite the impressive listen. One that requires time, of course, but you’ll find that so many albums of this kind do. Which makes it all the more rewarding when everything clicks into place.