So many bands are built around their trademark sound – the familiar intro's that you'd associate with a new song from The Strokes, or the Bloc Party fans who are getting upset by their new 'dance' direction. You already know what the next Vines album will sound like, right? It's not that this is a bad thing, a trademark sound can give a band the scope to play around within their parameters. But at the same time it can also make their music sound stale.
And then there are other bands who manage to cram so many ideas into what they do, that it's hard to describe who they are, what they sound like and whether you'd like them. Which doesn't make it easy to review. MEWITHOUTYOU are, of course, in this category, and what follows is a noble attempt to give you a fair idea of what this might sound like.
Mewithoutyou have managed to cultivate their sound to the extent that they're already willing to mess around with the formula. This album is experimental from start to finish, and although they have definitive sound, nothing sounds the same. The tone changes within songs all of the time and each track is something of a journey.
It's not prog-rock, but it certainly twists and turns. The combination of spoken word sections in and amongst the melodies work, and it isn't over-used. It's not the centre piece of the songs that feature it (such as 'The Dryness and the Rain'), just another element.
The album opens with 'Messes of Men,' which showcases the loud-quiet element of the band that is perhaps the most consistently present start of this album. There's a little bit of poem-style intro, then we're in with the shouting, and the tortured heartbroken wailing. Wicked.
'Wolf Am I! (and Shadow)' is punk rock to make Gallows quiver, yet as explodes to a finish, the next track is 'Yellow Spider' – a geeky little art-rock number (with counterparts in 'Orange Spider' and, later 'Brownish Spider' – collectively a triology that The Decemberists would love to command). Pixies style screaming
It's an extreme album – 'A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains' could be Bright Eyes' angriest ever song, 'The Sun and the Moon' is how Pixies would sound now, and 'C-Minor' is the sound of an extremely drunk and messy Arcade Fire.
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The mood of each song is conveyed perfectly – the anger is livid, the timidness is literally hiding around the corner. It's pretty and spiteful, at different times, but often in the same songs. The changes are seamless, it would seem, and the twists and turns within the songs feel very natural. Aaron Weiss's vocals lead the mood (it's a great voice, used in many different ways, all of it natural), but it's the music itself that delivers the emotion.
There is a definite collective sound to this band – many instruments making guest appearances as and when they are required, without things like the accordian becoming the gimmick. It's dark, for sure, but also uplifting – and not in a contrary way. The pace is pretty fast all of the way through, allowing for brief moments of relaxing lullabies, and it's relentless even to the end. It's kind of a concept album (at least with the various spiders), but it's more a many concepts album.
Other moments also sound like Tapes 'n' Tapes, Mercury Rev, British Sea Power, iForward Russia!, The Decemberists, Nick Cave and The Desceparacidos and many, many more. This is merely a guide. More than anything, they sound like themselves, and it a sound that we need to hear more of. This album is chaotic, but an absolute treat in terms of ideas and how well they all work together. It has a raw quality to it that leaves you hoping they never over-produce themselves. The live show will probably be incredible. This album is special; listen to it for yourself, for this review doesn't do it justice.
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