Mew: No More Stories
Mew: No More Stories
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By Will Haine. |  |
Tuesday, 25, Aug 2009 10:18
Columbia Records, out now.
In a nutshell...
Endearing, enriching, and consistent art-rock
What's it all about?
Fourteen tracks pervade 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.
Yes, that's the album's full title. Pretentious, maybe. An opinion that could be further solidified by the two diminutive Intermezzos, but then the effortless complexity of Mew's song-writing and the charm of Jonas Bjerre's vocals make it easy to forego these first impressions.
Who's it by?
The indie and often progressive rock band Mew hail from Copenhagen, Denmark. Jonas Bjerre, Bo Madsen and Silas Utke Graae make up the current line-up, after bassist Johan Wohler departed in 2006.
Their 2003 album Frengers was the band's breakout hit, winning them album of the year and band of the year in the Danish Music Critics Awards Show. They once again took home four awards in the 2006 Danish Awards, following the more cerebral and progressive And the Glass Handed Kites (2005).
As an example...
"Hang on to me/That'll be the first words that you learn/Listen child and believe them 'till you die/Not long for me, for you see that dreams have all grown/And I still want ten children of my own." - Reprise
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Whether the alternative nature of Mew's sound will attract the American or UK critics is unclear, and No More Stories doesn't sport the pop hits or exciting freshness that Frengers offered six-years ago.
But there's a depth to the album that gilds it with an excellence that will reveal itself to those critics who are willing to offer a second or third listen.
What the others say
"Stories delights in joyful romps through glittering worlds of transcendence. All backed by Jonas Bjerre's unmistakably sumptuous vocals which are equal part Alice in Wonderland, to equal part Dinosaur Jr." - StrangeGlue.com
"No More Stories... is a fully-developed, wildly original collection of music that puts such a spin on "rock" music that the effects may be felt for quite a while." - QRO Magazine
"The album suffers from so many of the same issues that we found with previous release And The Glass Handed Kites. It's hard to know where you stand with it. There are moments where the listener is engulfed in it all, but others when it feels cold and detached." - Ben Urdang, musicOMH
So is it any good?
An innocence pervades Mew's music, both in its lyrical content and the falsetto harmonies flowing from Jonas Bjerre's vocal chords, that gives their tracks an undeniable charm. This is especially evident in No More Stories' Silas The Magic Car, made possible by the preceding Intermezzo, which softens the more upbeat and rock-filled Repeaterbeater.
There's a marked attention to the album's craft that presents an unmistakable unified structure. Sure, it may not include tracks as strong as 156 or Behind the Drapes, but then No More Stories is arguably more consistent than Frengers, giving the 2009 album a clear identity beyond the distinctive resonance of Bjerre.
Mew's talent for structure continues to infuse individual tracks, exhibiting intelligent song-writing that loves to play with off-beat rhythms and unconventional time-signatures. This isn't the common 'Verse, Chorus, Verse' structure that you've come so abhorrently accustomed to. Cartoons And Macrame Wounds holds a layered and operatic-like construction that melds a number of distinct themes and intertwining vocal melodies into one seven-minute epic; think a less bombastic Bohemian Rhapsody.
It's this complexity that'll make the album almost impossible to warm to on your initial listening, but keep the disc spinning and every track is sure to grow on you. Its depth, like a great Kubrick film, will offer up more surprises each time, which is no more apparent than in the album's opening track. Play New Terrain backwards and you'll discover an understandable and intricate new song, titled Nervous.
Of course, this clever song-writing and the purity of Bjerre's vocals are allowed to soar thanks to the sumptuousness of the album's complete and complex production - a harmonic cacophony of sound that Mew has been able to solidify in No More Stores with the help of Frengers producer Rich Costey. The anthem-like Vaccine rises at a forward-leaning pace, building percussion towards an optimistic calling from the band; but the track then drops to a lingering, and it must be said, slightly unsettling conclusion that introduces the confused and modal electronics of Tricks of the Trade.
The virtue of the subsequent second Intermezzo is thus very clear; it gives room to the album's somewhat poignant and yet obviously epic finale. Sometimes Life Isn't Easy is a glorious, touching and enriching medicine that prepares you for the tender and honest Reprise. The hyper-emotional delivery of Sigur Ros might not inhabit No More Stories, but Mew has been able to offer something less pretentious and more endearing in their latest album.
8/10
Patrick Steen