Are Told Today
I'm Sorry
They Washed Away
No More Stories
The World Is Grey
I'm Tired
Let's Wash Away.
Such is the title of the new album by Mew, which I got a hold of today. Here's a track-by-track run-through after the first few listens.
Opener New Terrain's main claim to fame is the fact that if played backwards, it's an entirely different song, called 'Nervous'. I don't have the software to do so, but someone will probably up it onto Youtube soon enough. The track does sound like something I reverse-looped on my Kaoss Pad, and it's really a peculiar and perhaps quite vulgar way to get off the grid.
Introducing Palace Players has already been in heavy rotation as the lead single, a
nd it is a perfectly decent track. The syncopated drums and guitar make for an interesting hit single, yet one must acknowledge Mew's ability to create something accessible from such crookedness. This track is followed by Beach, a well-crafted indie pop track and Repeaterbeater, clearly two of the most accessible (and shortest) tracks on the record. They both bear clear resemblances to the Frengers-era.A brief intermezzo follows, before the awkwardly-titled Silas The Magic Car, a bland ballad, which is honestly quite dull and unspectacular. Then follows Cartoons And Macramé Wounds (what the fuck hell is a macramé wound anyway?), a really schizophrenic and disturbing piece of work. It definitely has some sort of aesthetics, and some pretty passages, but I don't really get it. Maybe I will in time.
Hawaii Dream features Jonas chanting the title poem, and segues into Hawaii, which is a really daft caribbeo-polynesian-themed piece. It doesn't really ever lift off. The exotic instrumentation continues in Vaccine, which is one of the strongest tracks on the album. Tricks Of The Trade is an dark, drum machine-driven track which is interesting from a style/genre point of view, but this one too never really lifts off.
Yet another intermezzo follows. I'm not all that into intermezzi, but these ones seem to seperate different moods of the album quite well, both leading up - or perhaps rather down - to quite ballady tracks, such as Sometimes Life Isn't Easy, which kicks off as perhaps the most grandiose and exuberant song Mew have done since 'Comforting Sounds'. This too is definitely one of the instant favourites, and although it's neither CS nor 'She Came Home For Christmas', it is quite beautiful. Finally, Reprise is a typical Mew-closer - another ballad, which starts out as somewhat anonymous and ill-timed epicism, but closes out quite pleasantly.
It is hard to find the right adjectives to describe No More Stories. It's vulgar yet gloriously witty, creative yet anonymous, impressive yet wry, triumphant yet somewhat disappointing. Mew are still heavily reliant on Jonas Bjerre's angelic voice, which have been their strongest asset ever since bursting into everyone's attention with Frengers in 2003. In my opinion, Mew still peaked back then, but there's no denying that beneath the ovoid, evil-clown-like smiley face clad cover lies a world of musical creativity and border-seeking antics from a band which does exactly what it wants to. And having the seniority and critical acclaim to flip the bird at all norms and definitions of kitsch, beauty and cacophony might just be the biggest achievement of this record after all.
