Shared by: Steven
I was nervous about getting into this album, because I’ve already given Mew a chance a long time ago. In fact, Am I Wry? No had a permanent place on my Zune. But I remember not being into the rest of their music, though I couldn’t remember exactly why.
I was quite relieved when I was midway through Comforting Sounds and digging it. Though I kept thinking about how mad Mew must’ve been when Chasing Cars came out (especially with another song on this album called Snow Brigade!) Am I Wry? No was a great trip down memory lane. I still kind of think the outro kind of just fades into the background in a disappointing way, but that’s alright.
Then came 156, and I remembered. This is one of those bands that does too much for no reason. Listen, I like math rock, and I like bold choices! What I don’t like is when a band, in my opinion, forces these elements. Mew is adding or removing beats or whole bars on something that really doesn’t need it, and hitting random key changes that just don’t vibe. Basically I’m getting in a groove and then they’re doing something that takes me out of it. I can’t quite describe when it “works” and when it doesn’t, but for Mew, for Me, it usually doesn’t.
Luckily, the band doesn’t have an over reliance on this gimmick, and there’s still some songs on here that I really wound up liking. Snow Brigade, and She Came Home For Christmas were songs that really impressed me, and I’ll probably add them to Zune. I’m glad I was able to give the album another shot.
On production, some areas of this album feel really dense with stuff that’s all sitting on top of each other in a muddy way. I can really hear the grand intent of these parts so it’s a bummer the mix isn’t quite there. I also just wish they used a different snare.
Wow
Fave: Am I Wry? No, She Came Home For Christmas
Least: 156,
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