With Mercury, U.K. rock outfit
Long-View serves up an impressive debut album that owes as much to
Coldplay as it does to
Catherine Wheel. Similarities to the latter undoubtedly explain Matt Pinfield's fascination, as the former WHTG radio host and MTV talent turned Columbia Records A&R guy inked the band to a Stateside deal. Launched with "Further," a swooning, melodic anthem that is as delightful as it is accessible, and boasting
U2-like lyrics ("God's light will save us"), Mercury rarely poisons as it gives us beautiful,
Bunnymen-styled ballads like "Can't Explain," gorgeous shoegazer breezes like "Electricity" and "I Would" and roaring, energetic rockers like the hook-injected "When You Sleep." While singer/brainchild Rob McVey most often recalls
Rob Dickinson of the aforementioned
Catherine Wheel -- which isn't a bad thing at all -- his resonant pipes go even further on "In a Dream," a slumbering, ethereal melody. And damn if the pop-touched spitfire "Nowhere" doesn't re-open the capsule shut by the demise of
Kitchens of Distinction. ~ John D. Luerssen