mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister
Rating
RIYL
Neutral Milk HotelCursive
Minus the Bear
Thursday
Tracklist
1. Messes of Men2. The Dryness and the Rain
3. Wolf Am I! (and Shadow)
4. Yellow Spider
5. A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains
6. Nice and Blue (Part Two)
7. The Sun and the Moon
8. Orange Spider
9. C-Minor
10. In a Market Dimly Lit
11. O, Porcupine
12. Brownish Spider
13. In a Sweater Poorly Knit
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"I do not exist." whispers vocalist Aaron Weiss on the first track of post-hardcore/indie outfit mewithoutYou's third full-length album, Brother, Sister. For those unfamiliar with the band's history, mewithoutYou garnered a huge cult following with arguably one of the best post-hardcore releases ever, [A-->B] Life in 2002, then increased their popularity even more with 2004's Catch For Us the Foxes, which saw mewithoutYou expand on their hardcore roots with a more refined indie rock sound. With two fantastic releases under their belt, will mewithoutYou be able to meet the high expectations of a fanbase that's just as diverse as their music? The answer is... well, yes and no.
If you've ever heard mewithoutYou's very first (and very rare) EP entitled I Never Said I Was Brave, you'll realize the band has grown progressively softer and more experimental with every release thereafter. On Brother, Sister this couldn't be more true, as there's brass sections in songs, guest vocalists, the music has become much more melodic, and Aaron has changed his vocal style pretty drastically from past releases. Unfortunately, with all this change and introduction of new ideas, it seems the band has lost the thing that garnered them such a strong following in the first place: their rawness and agression. Though this isn't really a downfall per se, it's something that I, and a lot of the older mwY fans, won't like about Brother, Sister. Much like on Cursive's latest release, there's just no real aggressive, raw, angsty, or emotional edges in the songs like there were in the past.
However, the vapidness of aggression isn't the only trouble Brother, Sister is anchored down with. One of the most glaring problems, to me at least, is the constant references to God, Jesus, or an allusion to some other form or practice of the Christian religion. Now before you lash out at me with "mwY is a Christian band, what do you expect!?" hear me out for a second. I never minded the references to God scattered in mwY's songs before, in fact I thought they were a nice touch, because they were subtle and were written as if they weren't refererring to a single, Christian God, but on this record, literally in every song, there's some lucid mention of God, Bible stories, etc. Just look at some of these lines from the songs:
Track 1: "Lord, I could never show you anything as beautiful as You."
Track 5: "My rabbi, he lived, and was betrayed with a kiss."
Track 6: "God became the glass. All things left are emptimess."
Track 7: "Daniel broke the kings decree, Peter stepped from the ship to the sea, there's hope for Job like a cut down tree."
Track 9: "Open wide, my door, my Lord, my Lord."
Track 10: "The truth belongs to God."
Track 13: "Little Moses drifts downstream in the Nile"
And that's not even counting the "spider" interlude tracks, or the more refined, secretive allusions I missed. It's almost like listening to a sermon with background music. In the same way bands wear out the whole "A girl left me and I'm sad, I think I'll write a song about it" cliche lyrical writing style, mwY have sadly done the same thing with their obsession with religion. We get it guys, you're Christian. Thanks for reminding us with nearly every track on Brother, Sister.
Now, after all of my complaining, is this record really that bad? No, not at all. Tracks like "Nice and Blue Pt. 2" and "A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains" are just superb songs all around, with excellent guitar solos, extremely catchy verses and choruses, and rhythms that could make a cripple get up and dance. Also, even though the writing is plagued with various religious lines, overall Aaron's writing is genius, with metaphorical pieces that will constantly make you say "I wish I would've thought of writing that" while listening to the album. However, these positives just aren't enough to make Brother, Sister a truly great release.
I wanted to love Brother, Sister, I wanted it to be a masterpiece, but this just isn't the same mewithoutYou I heard on [A-->B] Life. that I fell in love with. Fans of Cursive, Neutral Milk Hotel, and other indie acts (as well as fans of Christianity *rolls eyes*) will love this, but fans of the older, loud, and depressive mewithoutYou will sadly be wishing for an [A-->B] Life part 2... Oh, and they'll probably also be wishing the band would stop referencing Jesus so damn much.
--Anthony Presnell
Comments
The Great North Woods
Darla Farmer
RIYL:
the Beatles
Tom Waits
Murder By Death
A Whisper in the Noise
the Blood Brothers
Tucson, AZ
Alabama
Bedford, OH
No pun intended.
rasta
Cincinnati, OH
Manchester, England
that's like writing off coheed & cambria purely because all their songs tie in to a storyline.
Northampton, PA
STATEMENT 1 : The progress that MewithoutYou displays throughout their discography has encompassed the bands' raw and aggressive liveliness.
It may be my everchanging tastes in music or current staleness in the music scene, but I see MewithoutYou's experimentation as a breath of fresh air (i.e. The horn's section in C-minor). In Brother, Sister , MewithoutYou exchanged their angst ridden persona for a much more enlightened being. I see myself uplifted by songs like O'Porcupine and In a Sweater Poorly Knit. On the whole, the bands progress throughout their career reinforces a very positive reflection of how truely talented the five are.
STATEMENT 2 : The constant allusions to God and the Bible detracts from the overall feel of the album.
Althought I do not consider myself devoted to God or aligned to a religion in anyway, I find nothing wrong with the biblical allusions in Brother, Sister. Aaron Weiss uses such allusions to enforce the power of his lyrics. As exemplified in the words "Lord, I could never show you anything as beautiful as You.", mewithoutYou's lyrical style is extremely elevated compared to today's musical scene standards. In short, the biblical and other heavenly allusions Aaron Weiss embraces do not belittle the musical experience.
As a final word, I still see no value in repeating what has already been done before. If you wanted to hear [A-->B] Life, then go listen to that. As an album, Brother, Sister is brilliant and should be cherished as one of the best releases of '06 (which is a hefty title that I fully support). MewithoutYou has created their best work, their magnum opus.
AZ
www.myspace.com/arcoftheaurora
Buffalo, NY
blockbuster
I have no problem with a band progressing, especially mewithoutYou, whom I consider my favorite band. I loved mwY's progression from their debut EP, to A-->B Life, to Catch For Us... all 3 releases were different, and I loved each album equally in different ways.
This album, however, was just a big step backward in my opinion, and the passion and emotion displayed on their other past releases was very void here. I felt Thursday and Cursive, 2 other favorite bands of mine, did the same thing with their releases this year, by changing their sound TOO much and experimenting in the wrong direction. Especially Cursive, one of the most depressive, angsty, raw and emotional indie bands ever went "happy" I guess you could call it.
Just like I said in the review, fans of the indie acts I mentioned or newer fans will love this album for its versatality, but (most) longtime fans like myself will miss the raw emotion displayed in the band's previous releases. There's a fella by the name of Bob Loblaw who'll feel the same way if/when he reads this.
Because that's ALL they write about on this album, maybe?
Oklahoma
"We're not getting any younger, and I don't want to be 40, jumping around onstage," he said. "We're kind of all into softer music now, and this new album reflects that. There's a tendency to stick with what worked in the past, but honestly, we wanted to avoid that at all costs."
Also, concerning the references to God:
"I want to encourage and give hope, whether it's to people who were born Christian or people who never considered God," he said. "I'm not trying to convert anyone, but I want to tell people how great I feel. That's why my songs aren't just, 'Oh, my girlfriend broke up with me and I'm jealous of her new boyfriend.' I want to tell people God is love. That's my eternal, unchanging reality."
Buffalo, NY
I think you are alittle silly for saying bands that may be bored with a certain style are wrong to experiment outside of their comfort zone. Just because a record isn't what you expected, doesn't mean that it is bad.
Manchester, England
That's all well and good, if it was done in a poor manner. But this seems to be done in an intelligent manner, and any recurring theme, be it politcal, my girlfriend broke up with me, im fighting battles with space aliens, whatever, handled with intelligence can't be viewed as a negative.
blockbuster
That's why I gave this a pretty solid rating of a 3.5, and why i stated that this isnt a bad record at all, but in my opinion i felt it lacked.
Haha, Aaron's such a great guy. I can understand the whole God thing, but it's just so overused on this record.
And I never ciritisized this for being softer, I critisized it for lacking "raw emotion." There's a difference. Catch For Us was a lot softer and had raw emotion, hell, my favorite song from the band is Carousels and its probably the softest thing they've ever done.
blockbuster
I'll repeat myself: which is why I gave this a good rating of a 3.5.
los angeles
next, in the years i've been listening to mwY, I never once considered them a christian rock band. they are just christians making rock. their music happens to have a lot of biblical and religious references but it never once distracts from the music or the song as a whole. in fact, they are a breath of fresh air in music today because they don't sing stupid spiteful shallow songs about stupid shallow girls. they sing songs that mean something, that have depth and value and will last.
i am a jew. a proud jew, so fuck any jew haters. and with that said, i love this band. i love this band. i love this band. you do not have to be a christian or religious to like these guys, nor should it ever be a prerequisite. they write passionate, intelligent rock - which quite honestly, is hard to find these days.
those who bash mwY, or give the album poor reviews, you are less in my eyes. now whether or not that means anything to you is your call.
did they offer you buttsex?
Florida, USA
I don't like this band, but I found the review a bit silly. If the man wants to sing about his love for a God or anything else, he should be entitled to do so without criticism, especially from a supposed 'fan'.
Manchester, England
I'm not talking about the rating, I'm talking about the hefty portion of the review devoted to highlighting the religious content.
irvine, CA
i, for one, am not a big fan of "A-->B Life" (i came in during the Foxes era), so to me, there isn't any loss of emotion or anything like that on this album. to me, i actually feel much more connected to the music and overall style than before. Foxes felt like an awesome collection of individual songs, whereas this album is one that must be heard from beginning to end as a whole.
blockbuster
had the content been religious or not, if a band wrote the same thing every song I'd attack it just like I did here.
[QUOTE=Sins Of Arcadia]Regardless of the rating, your words that summarize the record would lead one to believe that a 2.5 or 3.0, at most, would be more fitting.
I've already explained this.
Remember how when Metallica released The Black Album, a lot of longtime fans hated it because it was less aggressive and different from their past stuff? Well its like that here with me.
I guess I should note the placement of the christian lines in the songs were very awkward as well. Like, they'd just throw in some random phrase about how "God is good lol" after playing a song with a theme that didnt relate to that at all, or at least didnt clearly show that it related. Read the lyrics to "Messes of Men" for a perfect example of this.
And with all this being said, I still like this album. I'm just disappointed that it didnt live up to the hype I wanted it to live up to.
But whatever, I'm through replying for a while. I feel I've explained myself enough. :rolleyes:
Manchester, England
If it was the same theme in every song, and it was done BADLY, then fine.
The recurrence of a theme is not a bad thing.
at all.
so like, all concept albums are bad in your view?
blockbuster
go back and read my edited post
and its "ridiculous"
los angeles
did they offer you buttsex?
blockbuster
Manchester, England
please render my argument null and void.