Mercury Rev – The SoCal Sound Session
Interview with Nic Harcourt
4 song performance in-studio
By: Matt Blake
There is something deeply poetic about Mercury Rev’s latest visit to Los Angeles and reuniting with Nic Harcourt – a DJ who, quite literally, helped carry their sound over the airwaves at some of the most critical times in their journey as a band and artists. Their visit to The SoCal Sound, Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper joined the More Music In The Morning host Nic Harcourt in-studio for a candid conversation and a four-song performance featuring live versions of “Born Horses”, “Ancient Love”, “Holes”, and “Your Hammer, My Heart”.
A Deep Friendship, Back to Woodstock
The ties between Nic Harcourt and Mercury Rev run deep – all the way to Woodstock, NY, in the early 1990s. Nic was on air at WDST, which had coverage into the Catskills, which led host to a vibrant music scene where bands like Mercury Rev were beginning to forge their sound. Later, when Harcourt moved to Santa Monica and hosted an influential show there, he again featured Mercury Rev and their seminal album Deserter’s Songs, giving the band the critical airplay.
“I remember putting that album in pledge drive gift packs,” Nic recalled during the interview. “We played the crap out of Deserter’s Songs for two weeks and raised a whole bunch of money and awareness for a band that, at that time, was still seen as a weird, chaotic outfit.”
For Mercury Rev, that support was life-changing. “We might have just walked into the sea after our third or fourth album,” Jonathan shared. “But Deserter’s Songs — and people like Nic — gave us another 25 years.”
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Four Song Performance, A Sonic Journey
Mercury Rev’s session featured four songs that trace the evolution of their sound while staying rooted in the dreamlike, cinematic atmosphere that has defined their music for decades:
- "Born Horses" – The title track of their latest album, an ethereal blend of 90s nostalgia and the experimental orchestration that defines their current sound.
- "Ancient Love" – A new cut that feels both timeless and immediate, echoing their earliest influences with a mature, almost spiritual sensibility.
- "Holes" – A classic from Deserter’s Songs, its inclusion was a nod to their long creative arc and enduring connection with fans.
- "Your Hammer, My Heart" – An impromptu bonus track, added on the spot when the session energy refused to fade. It was the perfect capstone to a set that felt both intimate and expansive.
The Band that keeps Evolving
During the interview, Jonathan and Grasshopper reflected on the long evolution of the band; “It's kind of like looking at a painting in the Louvre and saying, when did he start painting that? There's the physical first brushstroke,
but there's all the emotional brushstrokes that go on before the first paint hits the canvas. And so for us, you know, many of our inspirations that might be heard in Deserters or certainly Born Horses, the people and music Grassy and I grew up with, collectively loving people
like Terry Riley and Grassy loves jazz. And sometimes that just boils up to the surface. And certainly in Born Horses, where you can hear some influences of, trumpets and sort of that blurry orchestration, that would be stuff that, Grassy and I have shared together now for 40 years.”
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Looking Ahead
Now heading back to Europe for the summer festival season, Mercury Rev continues to build on their legacy — one that spans orchestral art-pop, cosmic Americana, and avant-garde experimentation. And thanks to a friendship that began under the mystical shadow of the Catskills, Nic Harcourt and The SoCal Sound remain a part of that ongoing story.
“It’s really the reason we’re able to come back,” Jonathan said. “Because of the ears you had — not only for us, but for other bands you loved at the time.”
Born Horses is out now, and available on Black Vinyl LP
Stream the Mercury Rev session and interview on The SoCal Sound Youtube
Listen through The SoCal Sound App
