Review: Brother, Sister by MewithoutYou
This review has been a long time in the making. I should have written in a long time ago, but for some reason have been loath to put my thoughts on the subject down on the page. This is not a reflection on the album. Or, if it is, it is a reflection of how staggeringly good I found the disc to be. For some reason, I’ve always found it easy to slate a band. Writing about a disc I thoroughly enjoyed is a somewhat harder task. Presumably, this is because I do not want to be one of those bloggers that gushes like a little school girl about bands that I like. (Having once been a little school girl, I assure that there are moments in my past that involve enormous amounts of gushing. However, I am older now and although I am still in school I’d like for the past not to repeat itself.)
MEWITHOUTYOU is one of those gems of a band that's music has grown along with the musicians. While their first album is full of screaming and anger and more towards the hardcore end of things, their most recent offering, Brother,Sister, is introspective and full of things that make indie rock good.
Brother, Sister is an album that is built as if it were one unit. In this regard, listening to it reminded me a bit of The Mars Volta. But, unlike the Mars Volta this album is focused and well-done art rock. (I would describe The Mars Volta as a clever synthesis of a myriad of influences, but that is another story.)
MEWITHOUTYOU is a christian band on Tooth and Nail, but while the influence of religion here, will noticeable wasn’t in your face or annoying. Instead, it came across like music made by people exploring and discovering things about themselves and their faith. The lyrics are sung in such a way that is in places almost like speaking. An oversimplification of this would be that front man Aaron Weiss is going a little hip hop. More appropriately, the lyrics are delivered with such earnestness that they preclude one from singing in a conventional sense. Their full force is felt in the delivery, which makes them powerful. Given the amount of overproduced pop on the airwaves, this in itself is a reason to sit up and take notice. There was not a song on this album that didn’t fit with the rest, that’s how finely crafted it is. And, there wasn’t a song that I disliked, which is rare.
Brother, Sister is an album with frenetic guitars and crazy clapping and desperation and joy. It was an honest pleasure to listen to it. The themes in the album are internal and introspective, but also include a fair bit of social commentary with such lyrics as, “We’re like children dressing in our parents clothes” from “The Glass Can Only Spill what It Contains”. I wholeheartedly recommend this Brother, Sister whether you are a fan of the band, or just a fan of good, exploring and expanding tunes. Yes.
