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It is finally here. It took Danish masters of experimental, ethereal pop a whole four years to release a follow-up to the internationally well-received "And the glass handed kites". In the meantime Mew have become a trio. Bassist Johan Wohlert left the band in 2006 in order to become a father. This new album, which bears a poem for a title, finds Mew working again with Rich Costey, who produced their 2003 album "Frengers" and has worked with bands such as Muse, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand and Glasvegas.
Jonas Bjerre's unusually high-pitched voice remains emblematic of the band's sound, though "No more stories..." is, on the surface, slower-paced, more approachable and less complex than its predecessor. On the other hand, it is also dreamy, at times pompous, with countless mood changes and a complete absence of obvious hooks. "Repeater beater" and the single "Introducing palace players" (which, by the way, has a spectacular and very enigmatic video clip) are the two best tracks, while the epic "Cartoons and macreme wounds" is an undisputed highlight. The album's reverberated, multilayered arrangements are compelling, and although "No more stories..." tries to be brighter than "And the glass handed kites", it miserably fails in the end. On top of that, I still haven't got the slightest clue what Mew are trying to communicate with their lyrics. All in all, with their newest effort Mew seem darker, more distant and incomprehensible than ever before. And precisely that's their beauty.
- Vasilis Panagiotopoulos
8
Perhaps this is the sound Weeping Willows were going for when they switched gears to make "Into the light": dark, modern disco with a touch of the sublime. The difference is however, Turboweekend is a trio so their sound is far more pared down, sleek and sexy. It also has the clinical deliberateness of Talk Talk or Peter Gabriel; clean, concise and expertly arranged. Like a complicated recipe where you can still taste every spice, every instrument retains its own separate space, but is perfectly balanced against each other to raise the whole. Even better, the lyrical content is informed by much more than standard-grade Scandinavian romantic melancholy. Yes, there's plenty of love and loss, but songs like "Holiday" for instance give working for a weekend an apocalyptic dimension and others such as "Sweet Jezebel" and "Up with the smoke - Down with the ash" touch on the supernatural. The mood is consistently somber and fully engaged; not something I normally expect from an act that could be mistakenly construed to be "merely" dancefloor fodder. Whether heard on headphones or in the club, the experience is just as good.
- Avi Roig
8
On Sophie's sixth album, intimacy comes first. Her band could be playing right there in the room with you, as Sophie sits and whispers into the listener's ear. While her musical palette has basically been the same reflective songs for dusky autumn days since 98's "Precious burden", "Memory loves you" pours a bit of light and optimism into the melancholia. A light that gives the album an identity and feel of its own. A feel that Sophie finally seems comfortable in facing her audience, by baring herself in songs like the gorgeous stripped down "I got yours". Album highlight "Love on my mind" even dares to climax with a piano that's straight out of ABBA. A few times, the strings cross over from beautiful to saccharine, but mostly the songs wrap the listener up in a tender embrace. Letting us know that spring is on the way, and that there is a tender beauty even in the bleakest rooms.
- Hanzan
The Alpine sort of remind me of a sub-par version of Blur circa "The Great Escape" in that they play this sort of tongue-in-cheek pop with slick, harmonized vocals – the lead singer's bratty sneer is featured prominently all over the album and is at times, a little grating. Unfortunately, the singer's voice is not the only thing that's grating: the songs themselves are just sort of generic and uninspired which makes for a pretty shaky foundation for the band's somewhat overbearing delivery (I'm mostly referring to the dueling boy/girl vocals and liberal use of silly keyboard settings). My aversion to this album probably has much to do with the cringe-worthy lyrics (for example: "Life is so ironic/it's never what it seems" and "Mom and Dad/got pissed real bad/the day I joined the band"). If you're the kind of person that is easily turned off by bad lyrical content, avoid this album altogether. It's not to say there aren't any high points at all: "Trigger" stands out as one of the few gems in the sense that I could imagine it penetrating Top 40 radio, but I cannot conclusively say that I enjoyed this album.
- Jessica Numsuwankijkul
"A decade of dreams 1995-2005" is the best of (yet) from Sweden's very own Dido-esque singer-songstress Sophie Zelmani. She occupies the territory already covered by the likes of Lisa Nilson, Lisa Ekdahl, or even Patrik Issakson! Vocally they pale into insignificance, as Zelmani possesses a voice to be reckoned with. It could be heard on any MOR format radio station in the USA. That said, Zelmani has a husky purr to her delicious vocals, fittingly matched by her beauty. Arguably the best tracks are "Going home", "Oh dear" and percussion tilted "Going to stop" which weighs in at a whopping 7:08 mins long. For fans, the album also contains a "So long" update via the the Aranjeuz version. Fresh material (three new songs) includes the single "I can't change", which could easily have fit nicely into her "Sing and dance" album issued in 2002. All in all, proper Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, never Friday or Saturday evening music.
- Troy Convers
There is really no better expression than 'artists' to describe the Danish band Kashmir. The four band members were originally a bunch of creative Copenhageners experimenting with different kinds of media until they decided that the best way to spread their message would be to wrap it up in rock'n'roll music. You still can feel this tendency of creative exploration in their music. Kashmir's fifth album "No balance palace" was released two years after their quite successful record "Zitilites". The band's artistic approach results in a never tiring spectrum from basic analysis/synthesis processes of sound as a medium to a mighty and aesthetic (re-)combination of sound as a ductile material. On a melancholic music journey, "No balance palace" passes almost everything between rather easy pop songs and quite uneasy guitar battlefields. But even though the album's title might let you suppose something different, it is indeed a very melodic balance. Atmospheric noise samples meet heavy rock'n'roll guitars at the same time the lyrics draw a poetic circle of topics like love, death and the decadent descent of western society. To sum it up, this record is not only a wonderful soundtrack for looking out the window and watching the cold autumn wind blow the leaves from the trees, it is definitely a masterpiece of music art. And yes, it's true, it was produced by Tony Visconti (Morrissey, etc.) and also contains songs featuring the legendary names of David Bowie (performing a powerful duet with singer Kasper Eistrup) and Lou Reed (reading one of Eistrup's poems about a mysterious black building in New York).
- Janis Meissner
You know why the Flaming Lips are not copied more, despite their fame? Because nobody has the balls to even try to sound like them, they are just that good. You know why Mew will never be a regular play of my discography? Because they try to be the Flaming Lips, albeit less happy and more melancholic, and they just are not as good.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Let's start this review with a confession: When I first heard this album I was absolutely blown away with it - the glockenspiel, the Elvis Presley-balladry and the girl-group sounds just knocked me off my feet (note: I LOVE The Ronettes). I ended up writing a review calling this album a "classic". Now after having listened to it a bit more, I've realized that half of the songs are very good, the rest of them are just... good. So there you have it, sorry for the confusion.
- Simon Tagestam
Mew
Turboweekend
