Mercury Radio Theater

The Blue Eyed Model

(Lujo)

Record Review by Alexis Roberts

With tunes so cheerful and up-tempo, it’s hard to believe that the concept of Mercury Radio Theater’s The Blue Eyed Model is such a dark one.  This three piece band from Philadelphia has created a concept album like no other.  The Blue Eyed Model tells us the story of a young boy named Gregor, who is so displeased with all of the girls that he dates that he orders a “girl in a box” and begins stealing the parts of his ex-dates to create his perfect blue eyed model.  Gross.

This album has no real lyrics, just narrative in-between songs explaining Gregor’s latest situations and endeavors.  (It also comes equipped with a 24 page illustrated CD insert to help you follow the story).  Each song serves as the background music for the movie that Mercury Radio Theater wants you to be projecting in your mind while listening to the songs and flipping through the pages of the insert.

The majority of songs on this album could be described by any number of different styles:  instrumental, post-surf-punk, indie, or plain old rock n’ roll with a slight taste of the 50s and 60s mixed in.  The guitar riffs are delicious, but on some tracks the bass playing upstages the guitar.  That’s not a bad thing, however, because their bass lines are nothing short of amazing.  In a world full of bands that have their bass players playing open on the first string for entire songs, Mercury Radio Theater restores our faith in the imperativeness of the bass all together.

There are very few weak spots on this album.  The only part that gets a little bit sticky is in the first track, which begins with choir girls humming and switches quickly into something that sounds slightly like a hardcore garage band—but don’t let that 30 seconds fool you, because right after a few measures of shaking up your ear drums, it changes again.  Every band needs a mosh song, although if you were seeing Mercury Radio Theatre live, you probably wouldn’t have time to mosh because you would be paying attention to the films that they play during their sets.  Word is that these guys tour as much as possible, so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming dates in your city.  Go check them out live, or pick up the album from their website and find out the surprise ending to Gregor’s story.