Album Review: Mercy by John Cale

Forever pushing the boundaries of pop, punk, and experimental music, John Cale has been a constant presence at the frayed edges of rock 'n' roll for the past six decades. The Welsh maverick co-founded The Velvet Underground in 1964 and then went on to collaborate with artists as diverse as Brian Eno, Squeeze, Happy Mondays, Marc Almond, and LCD Soundsystem. He's had a wildly varied solo career encompassing singer/songwriter classics (Paris 1919, 1973), cocaine-fueled paranoia trips (Fear, 1974), commercial rock (Honi Soit, 1981), and witty, almost lighthearted late-career gems (Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood, 2012).

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Collaborators including Actress, Fat White Family and Weyes Blood show up for a roster that stretches from eloquent electronica via sleazy indie to dilated-pupil neo-psychedelia The story of 21st-century hip-hop is the story of collaboration. Contemporary fans exploring Paid In Full, the classic 1987 album by Eric B & Rakim, might be surprised to find that the full list of artists involved is a) Eric B; b) Rakim. Today the equivalent would feature beats from a pool of producers and guest vocals from a coachload of rappers and singers, regardless of the names on the front cover.

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In 1963, John Cale left Goldsmith's College in London with his viola and arrived at the epicentre of the Lower Manhattan arts scene. One of his first gigs upon arriving in NYC was with La Monte Young , playing long drones as part of Young's conceptual Theatre Of Eternal Music – an immersive sound project that tapped into Eastern spiritualism and transcendentalism. I mention this because his work with Young was only tangentially similar to the band he went on to form with disgruntled Pickwick pop factory songwriter Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground.

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John Cale cut a frail figure on his recent tour but you still wouldn't mess with him. "Tell us a story, John!" shouted an audience member at one of the dates. "No," replied the 80-year-old, complete with withering expression. His first new material since 2012's Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood, Mercy shows few signs of Cale's advanced years. The carefully selected younger names who contribute would make for an enticing festival bill, with Laurel Halo, Actress, Weyes Blood, Fat White Family, Animal Collective amongst them.

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Photo by P. Cornett John Cale's Mercy is a maximalist edifice, its moody, drifting atmospherics bolstered by sweeping arrangements (strings, layered vocals, glitchy beats), its credits studded with the cream of young mainstream indie and its length impressive at over 70 minutes. The songs themselves stake out considerable territory, running five, six, even slightly over seven minutes in length.

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