Seattle Subsonic

Mew Is Fantasy

December 8th, 2009

I’m not sure how many of you have caught onto Mew, a fantastical prog-pop trio from Denmark, but their new album is quite good. In the event that you are familiar with the band, you’ll agree that their output can be…a bit much. First off, let’s start with that title: 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. Holy crap, that’s pretty much the longest album title I’ve ever seen. It’s the lyrics to one of the album’s interludal tracks— “Hawaii Dream”—and one of the first indicators that you’re not quite in Kansas anymore. In fact, sometimes I wonder if Jonas Bjerre, Bo Madsen, and Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen are indeed apparitions from another fairytale world, bequeathing the soundtrack to their wondrous and magical lives unto us flawed and depraved humans. Eh, probably not, but for a band whose dapper appearance and upper-class suburban background fuel arguments that they are simply wealthy eccentrics with too much time on their hands, it might not be such a bad idea to believe in such an impossibility.

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The word “epic” often comes to mind when listening to Mew, and if you’re the type drawn to sparkling fantasy and glimmering white magic, or extreme depth and wild excitement, their operatic and incredibly inspired thunderstorm rock will be right up your alley. Oftentimes, I feel like I’ve been dreamily transported to the kid-friendly fantasias of The NeverEnding Story or Return to Oz. In composition, No More Stories… essentially picks up where 2005′s And The Glass Handed Kites left off: Madsen’s colorful, uneven guitar treatises balance exuberant keyboard flourishes and Bjerre’s precocious, somewhat nonsensical choir-boy storytelling. Songs build up and break down, meander aimlessly and fly pointedly, sending listeners on enchanted journeys through implausible universes.

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Bjerre’s lyrics are often humorously bizarre, asking endearingly awkward questions like, “How should I / hold this girlfriend?” and “Have you / touched the bottom?” Song titles, such as  “Repeaterbeater”, “Cartoons and Macramé Wounds” and “Introducing Palace Players” make little sense on first (or second) glance. But, if the words are baffling, the music is exhilarating. Madsen is an exemplary guitar player, and has an astonishing imprint on most every track. The jagged to-and-fro on “Introducing Palace Players” introduces his sui generis. Jørgensen’s kick drum propulsion highlights many songs, and his work on “Beach” is one of my absolute favorite moments of the record. All put together, Mew is a radiant example of where unhinged imagination can take you.

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See the Danes at Neumos this Thursday, December 10th, with local boys The Lonely Forest.

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Introducing Palace Players

Beach
Repeaterbeater

Cartoons and Macrame Wounds

Vaccine