Mercury Rev are even less pigeonholeable than usual on Snowflake Midnight, no mean feat for the avant-garde-inclined trio. This collection is crammed full of sonic weirdness, from the Philip Glass-evoking, fartynoise- featuring ''Runaway Raindrop'' to ''Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower,'' which sounds like Yes remixed, rather nicely, by the Chemical Brothers. The results are uneven but rarely dull, and ''Senses on Fire'' is a twisted, hummable synth-pop classic. The band is also simultaneously releasing a sister album, the largely instrumental Strange Attractor, as a free download from mercuryrev.com.

-Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly