Not long into this mesmerizing space/ drug/ ambient-pop album, Grasshopper, the guitarist and creative force behind Mercury Rev, proves he has few equals on this terrestrial plane. Shortly after the release of Mercury Rev's first effort, Yerself Is Steam, influential spacecase David Baker left the band. Grasshopper more- than- adequately made up for Baker's absence, becoming the group's Brian Wilson, of sorts.

True, The Orbit of Eternal Grace is only a slight extension of the last Mercury Rev album, but then again, See You On the Other Side was, for some, an extension of everything alternative rock has been flirting with for the last 10 years. In a sense, Grasshopper is one of the few artists around who is rarely derivative of anyone or anything, other than maybe himself.

Eternal Grace caresses your auditory nerves like the ideal accompaniment to a technicolored lysergic dream unfolding before your eyes. The songs are near- perfect realizations of a pop song's infinite possibilites. From the crackling opener, "Silver Balloons," the album's atmosphere progressively thickens with the light cooing of flutes, errant sampling, whimsical flights of space- oriented wordplay, and flecks of sublunary digital effects.

Grasshopper's diffident, effeminate vocals float weightlessly around the flowing instrumentation, complimenting it perfectly. "The Ballad of the One-Eyed Anglefish" is a warm 6am sunrise to begin a clear winter's day. The delectable, quivering guitar hook throughout "Univac Bug Track" is typical of Grasshopper's unimpeachable charm. It's obvious that the playing of elder spaceman, Major Tom Verlaine, certainly presaged this sort of lyrical, less- is- more economy.

I suppose there will be inevitable comparisons with My Bloody Valentine. Yet this stuff is more melodic, and frankly, much more listenable. Grasshopper and Co. manage to somehow create the perfect illusion. The album suggests that rock can indeed break out of its current creative doldrums and cease to rely on obvious nostalgic references. The subtle, unexpected space-age novelties on Orbit of Eternal Grace prove that with a little oddball creativity, indie rock's frontiers are never final.

-Michael Sandlin