Tooth & Nail
Released May 19, 2009
I’m not in a band or anything, but if I was, I’d imagine one of the things I would struggle with is the whole issue of evolution. On one hand, there’s the argument that if you get mildly successful, people are gonna like you based on a certain sound and you risk alienating a core group of your fanbase if you make significant changes to that sound. On the other hand, why on earth would you bother making music if you weren’t doing it for yourself? If you want to expand and grow and build upon what you have done, thus taking it to a whole new level, does it really matter if anyone outside your band loves it as much as you? While I could feasibly argue both sides of the coin, I’d like to think I’d choose the latter option… although I’m just as guilty as anyone else of bitching about a band changing their sound to something I didn’t dig quite as much, so it’s a rocky road and ultimately a crapshoot either way.
At some point over the past few years, it’s fairly obvious that when faced with this decision, mwY chose to follow the uneasy path to musical progression and I have a feeling that there are a LOT of folks out there who might not be all that pleased about it. On this new record, you can throw most of what you think you know about the band out the window, because they have totally redefined themselves in a manner that, while it was hinted at on their previous record, is drastic enough to make even fans such as myself who were expecting this shift tilt their heads and take notice. Gone are about 99.8% of the yelling vocals and virtually all of the aggressive riffs and in their place is an incredible cornucopia of instrumentation and happy, singy vocals that sounds like a mash up of a Sufjan Stevens and Decemberists record with mwY’s distinct ’sound’ stamped on it all. The lyrics have undergone a transformation as well, with a lot of songs now being written in the form of parables centering around nature and animals and and a few even containing choruses that don’t sound too unlike a song that a child might learn in their Sunday school class. For some of you guys out there, the lyrics are gonna be a pretty big turnoff I bet. Some of you may not want to hear songs detailing moral or spiritual lessons or tales about potatoes and barnyard animals, and I can understand that. Personally, I’m all about it. I would put Aaron Weiss up against anyone in music right now in terms of songwriting talent, his stuff is SO creative and SO meaningful and SO, just, good, that I’d have a hard time voting against him.
mewithoutYou has always been a bit of a polarizing band. They’ve never really toed the company line in terms of sound, they’ve always danced to the beat of their own drum so to speak, and with the uniqueness they’ve always exhibited comes polarization in terms of the audience. This is the ultimate love it or hate it record from a love em or hate em band, so I truly understand all thediversity in the reviews out there on the internets. Personally, I think that this is an amazing record. When I first heard one of the new tunes on their Myspace, I was a but eh about it, but after a few listens, I really got what it is they were doing and ended up loving the song. That’s important with this album..giving it a little time to spread it’s roots in your musical soil. It might take a little bit of work, but in time I think there’s a good chance it will bloom into something extraordinary for you. It already has for me.
