10 replies to this topic

[winter shaker]

There's a new mewithoutYou album set for release May 15/12 (in the US). Their last album was fantastic!

http://www.jambase.c...ect-March-Dates

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mewithYou returns with their 5th studio album Ten Stories, set for release May 15, 2012. A deluxe vinyl edition will be available as well. Helmed by producer and friend of the band Daniel Smith (Sufjan Stevens) and mixed by Brad Wood, Ten Stories is an allegorical collection of songs that, at first listen, follows a winding narrative about a circus train crash in 19th century Montana. But long-time fans of this band know that although we are immediately introduced to a talking elephant, fox and tiger, there is always more than meets the eye.mewithoutYou – frontman Aaron Weiss, guitarist Michael Weiss, bassistGreg Jehanian and drummer Rickie Mazzotta – will be previewing the new songs during a run of select live shows in early March, beginning March 3 in Baltimore at Metro Gallery. A U.S. Spring tour will be announced in the coming weeks.

Edited by winter shaker, 03 March 2012 - 01:45 AM.

[opus]

The band talks a little bit about the new album and previews three new songs.

[Joel]

Nice!

Really in-depth interview about this record with the band from Alternative Press here.


I wonder who'll be putting this out. I know they've been without a label during the recording of this record.

[opus]

This bit makes me happy:

Quote

With this record, we got more back to grooves, riffs and Aaron's vocals being a little more aggressive. It was all flowing naturally at the time of us writing. Now, that’s not to say there aren't soaring hooks, sweet melodies and alternate style arrangements present as well; I would have to drum up comparisons to Brother, Sister, if any. Some of the songs are heavy, some are heady, all of them have some interesting things going on in them—and when I think of Brother, Sister, it feels like a complete record. That's what I think about this one as well. There is a little something for everybody on it.

[Tim K]

Truthfully I think the album I liked most of theirs was their most recent one. The name currently escapes me, but I also have to admit that I think this new stuff sounds great. I like the ideas behind a lot of Aaron's narrative themes.

[Joel]

New song -- "February, 1878", at Paste.

I love it. Mazzotta has said that this record is more akin to Brother, Sister than It's All Crazy. I for one think Brother, Sister is their best record, so I am, as the kids say, stoked.

(As with most of their "sequel" songs, this creatively interpolates some musical/lyrical themes from "January, 1979." I like that.)

Also an interview with Paste here.

Also, they are self-releasing this.

Edited by Joel, 12 April 2012 - 01:02 PM.

[opus]

You can already pre-order the album on the band's website.

[Joel]

Has anybody heard this yet? My computer's in the shop so I haven't got it yet. (What a weird yet plausible 21st century excuse!) Would love to hear some first impressions.

Edited by Joel, 28 May 2012 - 11:12 AM.

[Andy Whitman]

Joel, on 28 May 2012 - 11:12 AM, said:

Has anybody heard this yet? My computer's in the shop so I haven't got it yet. (What a weird yet plausible 21st century excuse!) Would love to hear some first impressions.

Well, this is literally a first impression, Joel. I've heard the album once, and not in the best of circumstances to appreciate the songwriting.

I liked what I heard. Sonically, it's something of a middle ground between the early screamo approach and the freak folk approach of It's All Crazy ... There is some sort of concept going on here involving animals on a circus train, which could very well be as problematic as it sounds. But I need to give the lyrics a chance. Aaron Weiss is nothing if not enigmatic. And at least a couple of these songs resemble pop songs. I heard a bit of REM and The Weakerthans.

[winter shaker]

One fan of the band has created a "dictionary" of sorts for all the terminology on Ten Stories.

http://ohdoubters.tu...ost/23154954481

[Joel]

Andy Whitman, on 28 May 2012 - 03:12 PM, said:

I liked what I heard. Sonically, it's something of a middle ground between the early screamo approach and the freak folk approach of It's All Crazy ... There is some sort of concept going on here involving animals on a circus train, which could very well be as problematic as it sounds. But I need to give the lyrics a chance. Aaron Weiss is nothing if not enigmatic. And at least a couple of these songs resemble pop songs. I heard a bit of REM and The Weakerthans.

Agreed on the REM! This record is really good, and it's making me wonder about the progression or the relationship between their last 3 records -- Brother, Sister, to It's All Crazy to this. Somehow it seems like It's All Crazy should be the record after this one. Ten Stories is a deft tiptoeing between post-hardcore/emo/whatever and REM/Smiths pop -- which I feel shouldn't work after writing that, but it's beautiful. "Nine Stories" in particular, with that lovely singsongy REM chorus, shifting into that chugging groove at the end? Man. That is good.

I seem to recall interviews where someone from the band has said that It's All Crazy was not a good time for them as a band, that Weiss wanted to go in a direction they didn't want to go, but that it was somehow a record they needed to make. And I do feel like Ten Stories is Weiss calming down a little (a little, I must stress) about some of the things that have concerned him, and really digging into stories for their own sake.

Anyway, I like this album a lot.