Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker (vocals), Jonathan Donahue (vocals, guitars), Sean Mackowiak, known as "Grasshopper" (guitars, clarinet), Dave Fridmann (bass guitar), Suzanne Thorpe (flute) and Jimy Chambers (drums).

The band's members met while students at the University at Buffalo. Buffalo media studies professor Tony Conrad was a strong artistic influence on co-founder Grasshopper. The band was initially formed to score its members' student films.

With their early records, Mercury Rev offered experimental, psychedelic rock, which gradually shifted to a melodic, ornate sound. Mercury Rev is often compared to The Flaming Lips, and share close ties: soon after the band's formation, Donahue also joined the Flaming Lips as second guitarist and appeared on two of their albums; and since the 1990 album In a Priest Driven Ambulance, Dave Fridmann has co-produced every Flaming Lips studio album to date except 1993's Transmissions from the Satellite Heart.

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