Scandinavians do it right. There's a host of really interesting bands that come out of this area, many of them passing undetected in North America because we pay too much attention to Britain and the US. Mew I came across after a hopscotch over a half dozen or so bands on Myspace.com of all things. If you're still resisting Myspace as merely a hipster dating forum, don't. It's a great place to shuffle around and discover new music, even if they are serving pop-up ads there now. Anyhow, Mew... the band has a trembling quality to it, with cascading layers of vocals that range from flowy feminine to scruffy masculine. But mostly the light feminine style. It's very much like a Kent or Sigur Ros sort of vocal, but the music is far more rock and roll. They just have a classy way of putting song elements together,adding a splash of guitar or a really subtle chime here and there to make it sparkle. And sparkle it does - it's a gorgeous album that manages to sound a touch dangerous from time to time. It has an amusing choppiness about it, voices following piano lines, brilliant effervescent choruses squashed between heavy, harmony-laden verses. With so many vocal tracks parading around, it's like a round-robin at a high school choir competition. Only better. One thing i LOVE is the very Legend-like noises (Legend, the movie that is, you know, before Tom Cruise went nuts) softly flitting throught he beginning of "Saviours Of Jazz Ballet (Fear Me December)." It's very romantic sounding. So, a band with mountains to offer sonically - and I'd imagine soon enough the world will tire of new wave and be looking for something new - this might be the Next Sound. The songs blend strangely into one another, marrying elements from one through to the next so you can't really tell when you've switched songs.
ElsewhereMew websitePublished : March, 2006. |
