after yesterdays post, did anyone figure out that today would be all about danish band mew? id heard one or two songs by mew but didnt really know much about them, except that the word mew always came in handy playing facebook scrabble when i didnt have a lot of vowels. im only just now working through their whole discography and its really impressive. like muse, they take hard rock to the next level with ear-pleasing melodies, unthinkable chord progressions and the most unusual of time signatures. especially evident on their latest single “introducing palace players” where it takes some time just to figure out the beat. they just played the pitchfork festival but i missed their performance to be in the midst of the flaming lips confetti/balloon extravaganza and kind of wish i hadnt now (especially since the wind blew most of that away from us anyway).

todays track is one of the first id ever heard by mew and has everything ive talked about above. from their 2003 album “frengers” (get it? friends and strangers?), “am i wry? no” starts out with definite elements of heavy metal, but not in a dark, screaming way. it starts out in 4/4, then theres a little musical interlude into 3/4 thats just so nice to listen to. then back to 4/4, and to close out the last minute thirty of the song, in true mew fashion, a whole new theme is introduced in a whole new key. thats what i love about this group. theres always something interesting to listen to and even within one song, the mood is always changing. and in most cases, all of the things mentioned above are even more apparent then in this track. in their 2005 album “and the glass handed kites”, they take it even a step further, with many of the songs flowing seamlessly into one another. the worst part about festivals is the post festival regret. shows you know you should have seen that you didnt.

mew – am i wry? no

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