It’s hard to explain to someone why you like a band. It’s harder still to put it onto paper. But today that’s my job, so allow me to try to relate to you why I like Mew. I’ve always been a fan of well-made music, and to me, Mew are the epitome of a well-made band. They’re up there with Massive Attack for their grasp of rhythms, with Sigur Ros for their grasp of ambiance, and with The Beach Boys for their grasp of melodies. By the end of this article I hope you’ll see them the same way.
I’m just going to look at a few key tracks to give an overview of their sound.
Mew are a band from Denmark and they make, in their own words, ‘dream-pop’. That’s a term that would normally turn me off but I implore you to have faith, there’s much more to them than that. They have been making music for about fifteen years now, and have released a total of five albums. Their fourth, and breakthrough album, was released in 2006 and entitled ‘And The Glass Handed Kites’. US website Pitchfork described And The Glass Handed Kites as “a masterpiece for people who haven’t smoked weed yet but are thinking about it”. Although I’m not sure the drug reference is necessary, I’d definitely agree that it is a masterpiece.
I wasn’t introduced to them through standard media however. I was introduced to them by a fellow musician, and fan of well made music, who played me their track ‘Comforting Sounds’, the closing song off their album Frengers. An anthemic track, it moves from simple guitars to a euphoric and crashing outro. So as not to bore you with a rambling and critical description of instrumentation and lyrics, here’s the song itself.
It’s the way the guitar moves, the melody of the vocals, and the percussion that builds up to the climax around four minutes that got me. I was instantly hooked.
But Mew aren’t just a pleasant, melodic band. Some of the instrumental prowess and hooks displayed in their material is astonishing and nowhere moreso that than on their fifth album, , No More Stories Are Told Today, I’m Sorry They Washed Away. The album opens with the duo of New Terrain and Introducing Palace Players and these tracks proved to be another highpoint in my history with Mew.
The effects on the vocals of New Terrain, combining with the off-time toms and the crashing cymbals just gave off so much energy. It was an absolutely triumphant opener, and the way in melded seamlessly into Introducing Palace Players, I was cemented as a fan. Introducing Palace Players is a stomping track, and the tone of the guitars at the outset had me intrigued and was the beginning of a serious affection for the band.
The last song I’m going to show you is from ‘And The Glass Handed Kites’ and it’s called ‘Why Are You Looking Grave?’.
This a monstrous track, but in a different way than Comforting Sounds. It almost stand on a knife edge. The percussion never lets up, and the guest vocal by J Macsis of Dinosaur Jr. gives the track an almost call-and-response, internalised conversation element. The subject matter is darker, but it’s contrasted by the synths in the chorus, and the high vocal range of singer Jonas Bjerre. The duality of songs such as this, is key to my passion for this band.
As I said that the start, it’s not easy to explain exactly why you love a band, and I’m not sure I’ve done that good a job here. All I can hope for is that you listen to Mew, engage with them, and make up your own mind. But for me, my mind was made up a long time ago. I am, and always will be, a Mew fan.
Published on Drop-D.ie, 18th May, 2011
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