Records of the Week

THE MERCURY PROGRAM ON THE WEB / THE MERCURY PROGRAM ON MYSPACE

How long is six years anyway?  For the four fanatics at Nowlikephotographs, it felt like a interminable trans-Atlantic voyage.  The Mercury Program, just as the vikings before them, have breached upon a new musical shore.  Chez Viking lands somewhere between rhythmic post-rock and jazz standard bliss.  On “Stand & Sing” and “Arrived/Departed,” the quartet channels a chill Tortoise-esque mood with vibraphones and a pattering snare drum, but avoids the Kool-aid-and-acid spaciness that has cloven Tortoise from the fold.  The opening track, “Chez Viking,” is the engine of the train, with an inertiatic melody, that drives the album all the way through the closer “Fluorescent Laces.”  Trains roll past the spectator relatively quickly, and just shy of 32 minutes, so does Chez Viking.  The only thing you can do is run with the engine until you are exhausted, or wait for the next one to come by.