Quick Before it Melts

Tuesday 01 September 2009

Cartoons and macramé wounds

I’ve been spending a fair bit of time with Danish band Mew and their new album–wait for it–No More Stories/Are Told Today/I’m Sorry/They Washed Away//No More Stories/The World Is Grey/I’m Tired/Let’s Wash Away. For the sake of saving space and brain cells we’ll simply refer to it as No More Stories… from here on in.  Condensing the music into a similar bite-sized compartment proves a more complicated and involved task.

Mew have always been one of those bands I should be listening to and loving but I never got around to sitting down and listening to them.  The “progressive rock” title afforded to their previous release, 2005′s And The Glass Handed Kites, might have been a draw back in the day, but as is too often the case with purveyors of all things “prog” and “rock” my initial reaction to Mew was “too abstract” and “too up their own arse” for my taste.  Like Animal Collective, they were another band I could add to the growing pile of “should like/listen to/blog about/heap praise upon/pretend to get.”  Fast forward four years:  Animal Collective’s latest album was my first major music crush of 2009 , and faced with a new Mew album, I have the fortitude and wherewithal to venture into it’s densely packed songs and really give an honest effort at getting into it.

How did it go?  Better than I expected, but no miraculous breakthroughs.  In the end–and I know some of you will think I’m just taking the easy way out–I really didn’t come out of Tell No Stories… with an opinion one way or another about Mew. Their sound is unique enough enough that you really can’t (and shouldn’t) compare them to anyone else.  As I listen to it, the songs do start to blend into one another, offering little to distinguish themselves from what came before it.  That’s not necessarily a band thing given that Tell No Stories… is truly an album to be listened to from beginning to end.  This could also be a sign that the more “abstract” characteristics of their previous work has given way to a more accessible sound, which would also explain why I probably like the album more than I do their other work.  whatever the reason, No More Stories… gets my recommendation because there really isn’t anything out there like it.  In time, I may grow to appreciate it even more, and be able to distinguish and remember individual tracks.  I doubt I’ll ever be able to remember it’s full title, though.

MP3: Mew “Introducing Palace Players”
Myspace: Mew
Facebook: Mew
Twitter: Mew

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by J. Di Gioia | 4 Comments »

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