Originally hailing from the Buffalo, New York area, Mercury Rev began in 1989 as a neo-psychedelic musical collective featuring based around Jonathan Donahue, Dave Fridmann and Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiak. They were also closely associate with Flaming Lips with Fridmann becoming that band's producer and Donahue spending time as their guitarist. The band made their biggest impression with 1998's majestic Deserter's Songs, an album that still stands as one of the decade's finest. The band has had its ups and downs over the years and have just emerged with their first album in seven years, The Light in You.