Mercury’s Antennae back with first full length in 9 years: ‘Among the Black Trees’
Mercury’s Antennae
Side-Line stands with Ukraine - Show your SupportMercury’s Antennae returns with a brand new album, their third, called “Among the Black Trees”. The album comes seven years after the release of their “The Moon Viewing Garden” EP (Sett Records, 2018). The 9-track album was already announced with the release of “The Reflecting Skin” single in a remix by William Faith in February.
“Among the Black Trees” is available now through the Chicago, Illinos-based labelSett Records to mark the Spring Equinox on 20 March 2025, today that is.
Here’s what Dru Allen, Cindy Coulter, and Erick r. Scheid say about the new full length.
Erick r. Scheid: “Among the Black Trees is almost concept album in a way. Themes of love, death, rebirth,
reconciliation and the imagined landscape of the unseen world are all intentionally, sonically and emotionally fed into the music. And Dru’s lyrical contribution truly adds a vastness of beauty and life to the music. Her lyrics on this album are my favorite; literally every song. Cindy was very receptive and active in writing this music alongside of me. While I had the demos, her ideas and creative insights held the music to be very truthful and not to be too overindulgent. Her openness to explore a deeper bass sound with tunings makes this album truly different from all our previous work. Both Dru and Cindy have had a huge impact on this work, and it’s the first
album where we all three equally wrote the music together.”
Bassist Cindy Coulter expands on this collaboration, and the influence of she and Erick’s proximity to each other in Portland: “For a large part of the song-making process, Erick and I lived in the same city, which was a first since I joined this project, and we became a trio. It was really great to bounce ideas off of each other in person, rather than passing files electronically as we had done on previous releases. It was pretty great to get immediate feedback on ideas and concepts, and I think you can hear that in this work we created.”
“Among the Black Trees” is Mercury’s Antennae’s most personal offering recorded as of yet so Dru Allen, now based in Geneva, Switzerland, elaborates: “… there was loss, grief, and ruptures in different kinds of relationships for each of us. The pandemic exacerbated feeling separate. To be frank, over a period of years some of us exchanged only a few words with each other. Erick started a new project, but if he had not done that, he would not have upped his technical skills, musicianship, and experience performing live and even online shows. So, where there was this loss, this hole, it turned into a fertile space. I also had some growth musically because I have always loved world music but I never thought about pursuing other styles. Geneva is extremely multicultural, so I have attended many singing workshops and seminars from different traditions, focusing mostly on Balkan and Georgian music.”
Check out the single “The Reflecting Skin (William Faith Remix)” on Bandcamp.
About Mercury’s Antennae
Currently based between Geneva, Switzerland and Portland, Oregon in the US, the trio comprises Dru Allen (This Ascension), Cindy Coulter (This Ascension, Faith and the Muse), and Erick r. Scheid (The Palace of Tears). Their sound incorporates influences from shoegaze pop and ethereal darkwave, plus also modern ambient electronica. Musically they have often – and rightfully so – been compared to ‘90s-era Projekt artists.
It’s through the Projekt label that Mercury’s Antennae released their debut album, “A Waking Ghost Inside” (2014); followed by “The Guides” EP (2015). Their sophomore album, “Beneath the Serene”, followed in 2016.
Their debut for Sett Records was 2018’s “The Moon Viewing Garden” EP. It was also during this period that the first songs for “Among the Black Trees” were first demoed.
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