Mew "And the Glass Handed Kites"

This band is currently setting the blog world on fire. I usually don’t fall for such hype (although exceptions have been made from time to time) but for $7.99 + tax for Mew's And the Glass Handed Kites, I figured why not? I like it although I’m a little confused where all the “progressive-rock” tags are coming from. This isn’t prog-rock, the songs are just very “epic” sounding but maybe to some ears the two are one and the same.

In any event, the songs are good in that they don’t stray over the 5 minute mark which would probably be a death-knell if they did. There’s a certain pop element that the band hasn’t let go of which is a good thing, but the album rocks at the same time. I can’t always understand what the hell Jonas Bjerre is going on about but he does go on with conviction, sometimes giving the songs a seemingly glorious sound. In fact, his voice reminds me of someone that has been on the tip of my ears the past couple of days but I’m having trouble recalling it. Ditching Boy does love the drumming however.

I’m not sure what type of setting Mew's songs would work in. It’s a little too hard for early morning but not quite whimsical enough for late evening. Maybe mid, late-afternoon, when you first get home from whatever you did all day and you don’t quite have the energy for anything too stressful but you don’t necessarily want to relax either. In any event, here are Ditching Boy’s favorites upon initial listen:

Mew – “Why Are You Looking Grave?” (MP3)

Mew – “Apocalypso” (MP3)