On the eve of their forthcoming (seventh) album ‘Visuals’ on 28th April, Danish trio Mew are pleased to share new track Twist Quest. Taken from the album and accompanied by a video that sees lead singer Jonas Bjerre assume the role of creative director whilst also coordinating visuals for the band’s forthcoming live shows.
Watch it here:
Following 2015’s + – the band undertook tour duties around the world and on their return saw them enter the studio with demos that unlike previous works came to fruition comparatively swiftly in terms of writing and recording against a poignant backdrop of world events over the past twelve months
As Bjerre explains; “This song took shape during a long jam session, like we hadn’t done in a long time. It’s a joyful song, with dark lyrics. I guess the song is about being confused, and unable to keep your mind still from all the stuff that floats around it. The expectations we put on ourselves. But also there’s a sense of celebration in it.
Mew’s 80’s tinged pop euphoria reigns supreme on ‘Visuals’ and Twist Questfollows that road, dreamy vocals courtesy of Bjerre and flourishes of saxophone feature and contribute to an album that’s both nostalgic and contemporary, that looks back whilst marching forward, the sound of a band seizing the moment.
Visuals is released on 28th April though Play It Again Sam and available on CD, vinyl and digitally and is available to pre-order here.
Mew play live at:
7 May – Bangkok, Thailand – Voice Space
10 May – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – KL Live
17 May – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
19 May – Paris, France – Point Ephemere
20 May – Antwerp, Belgium – Trix Club
21 May – Bristol, UK – Trinity Centre
22 May – Manchester, UK – O2 Ritz
23 May – London, UK – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
25 May – Cologne, Germany – Luxor
26 May – Hamburg, Germany – Knust
27 May – Neustrelitz, Germany – Immergut Festival
28 May – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Danish Theatre
Hot on the heels after the announcement of their seventh album, Visuals– released on April 28th – Danish art rock outfit Mew announce details of a brand new single85 Videos.
Having made his directorial debut on 2015’s +- (plus/minus) album, 85 Videos, once again sees front man Jonas Bjerre take the helm whilst also creating videos for every single that follows on the Visuals album.
Speaking of the video, Bjerre says:
“I’ve been working a lot with kaleidoscopes lately. You have an image, or a sequence of images, and you snip out an angle, mirror it, and repeat it in a 360-degree angle. It’s a beautiful thing, because almost no matter the state of the original image, it ends up a beautiful symmetrical, indefinable something. A picture of your messy desk turns into a strange flower. I like that you can’t really envision what it will look like until you see it. I think our music is a bit like that too, even as we’re working on it.
I made a bunch of sequences, and crafted them into these ever-changing ‘faces’ that I then video-projected on to our actual faces. It’s like wearing a mask made out of photons. You can say a lot of philosophical stuff about masks – but don’t worry, I’m not going to. Hope you enjoy the video.”
Visuals marks the band’s return to the fray following a relative short break (for them) since 2015’s + –. Having whetted the appetite with album closer Carry Me To Safety, Mew unveil the brand new single 85 Videos as they continue to inhabit their own dream-pop landscape of pop sensibilities enveloped in swathes of 80’s influenced synths.
From the outset 85 Videos exudes a familiar expansive backdrop, lush instrumentation coupled with rousing vocals and a euphoric pop brilliance that is part of Mew’s DNA. Twenty years into their career, Visuals sees the band retain the irrepressible ebullience of a band working on their debut album.
Visuals is released on 28th April though Play It Again Sam and available on CD, vinyl and digitally and is available to pre-order here.
Mew will be playing a short run of European shows as follows.
Danish band Mew have announced Pre-order details for their seventh album ‘Visuals’, due to be released on April 28th.
Frontman Jonas Bjerre has worked on the projections for the band’s live shows since their early days. Usually, the Danish trio finish an album and Bjerre gets to work on the visuals. For their seventh record, though, the singer decided to turn things upside down, working on the visuals first and seeing if they informed the music. The resultant record feels like a culmination for one of rock’s most ambitious and inventive groups: Visuals is where Bjerre and his bandmates, bassist Johan Wohlert and drummer Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen, join the dots of a career that has spanned over two decades. “We do everything on this album ourselves,” says Bjerre. “We produced it ourselves, I did the artwork, I’m doing the visuals. Visuals felt like a fitting title. I like the idea that each song has a visual aspect to it somehow.”
Mew have a tradition of, as Bjerre puts it, hiding away in a cave for three or four years between albums. The tour that accompanied 2015’s +- album found the band reaching a creative peak that they felt was too exhilarating to be dampened by a period of extended cave-dwelling. They arrived home with demos that had been written on the road and the spark was lit. They wanted to break the cycle and make an album quickly. “We just felt like, “if we do it the normal way, it’s gonna be another three or four years before we get to do it again’,” says Bjerre. “If you keep doing it like that, ultimately you make a handful of albums and then you’re ready for retirement.” The trio wanted to make an album spontaneously, keeping the energy they’d generated on the road going.
Listen to their new song ‘Carry Me To Safety’ here:
They set to work in Copenhagen and started knocking the demos they’d written on tourbuses and in hotel rooms into shape. At the same time, new songs were emerging in reaction to what was going on around them. Mew aren’t a political band but couldn’t help but be affected by rolling news and the death of an icon. “It was pretty dark last year, so some of the darkness in the lyrics comes from that. You definitely get the feeling that things don’t last forever when someone like David Bowie dies.” Visuals was completed in just under a year – what Bjerre describes as an “incredible” feat for a band used to periods of prolonged tinkering. “Spending less time on it, you can still maintain the feeling you had when you first wrote it,” says Bjerre.
‘Visuals’ is Mew at their most compact, their chemistry at its most potent. With only one song over five minutes, it’s their most concise album. Bjerre says there was no need for a grand, overarching concept. Each song on ‘Visuals’ represents its own little chapter and story: nothing needed to be overly long. “Each album is like a collection of thoughts and ideas that fit the time we’re in,” he says. “They’re like little diary entries, except they’re a little bit more veiled perhaps. To me, albums are memories of times in my life.”
Recorded and self-produced in Copenhagen, ‘Visuals’ was completed in under a year and sees Mew at their most concise, each song representing its own little chapter and narrative. The first taste of the album comes in the shape of the mesmerising intricacies of the album’s finale Carry Me To Safety.
Meanwhile, the slow-build euphoria of album opener, Nothingness And No Regrets, and expansive 80’s-style pop of TheWake Of Your Life countered by the discordant stomp of the intriguingly titled Candy Pieces All Smeared Out and blissful glide of In A Better Place, compete across eleven tracks that convey an irrepressible ebullience of a band on their debut album.
Many of the newer tracks evolved in light of what was happening globally. “It was pretty dark last year on many levels, so lyrically that definitely came into play, it’s an important reminder to treasure the here and now,” says Bjerre. Visuals feels like the culmination for one of rock’s most ambitious and inventive groups.
Twenty years into their career, Visuals is the distinctive sound of Mew seizing the moment…
New European tour dates have been announced for May 2017.
Tickets will be on pre-sale from 9am local time on Jan 25th, and on general-sale 9am local time on Jan 27th.
May 17 – Paradiso, Amsterdam
May 19 – Point Ephemere, Paris
May 20 – Trix, Antwerp
May 21 – Trinity, Bristol
May 22 – Ritz, Manchester
May 23 – Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
May 25 – Luxor – Köln
May 26 – Knust – Hamburg
May 27 – Immergut Festival, Neustrelitz
More world-wide tour dates to be announced very soon.
So, I’ve done my ‘Best of 2015’ list but there were so many that nearly made the list and should still be on your ‘Wallet Emptying’ selection that I couldn’t let 2015 close out without giving them a mention………..
Mandala – Midnight Twilight
Psychedelic, dark and groovy.
Mew – +/-
Uplifting and slightly mental.
Progoctopus (now Oktopus) – Transcendence E.P.
Cracking Progressive rock with an unusual edge.
The Enid – The Bridge
Symphonic, classical, brilliant.
Franck Carducci – Torn Apart
Progressive, bluesy, funky and with a whole lot of soul and some scorching guitar solos, love it!
Djam Karet – Swamp of Dreams
What they do is make brilliant, spaced-out, psychedelic music that could only come from Djam Karet and ‘Swamp of Dreams’ is a perfect example of their skill and flair.
Corvus Stone – Unscrewed
Mad bad and brilliantly dangerous, whether you’ll come out the other side with all your mental faculties is another matter entirely.
Unified Past – Shifting the Equlibrium
It’s Power-Prog, will it appeal to everyone? I doubt it but, those that do appreciate this band’s excellent music have really dropped lucky this time, well done chaps!
3rDegree – Ones & Zeros Volume 1
2015 continues to deliver some very high quality releases and 3RDegree have muscled their way well up that list.
Kinetic Element – Travelog
It feels like a labour of love and the skill, energy, blood, sweat and tears that have been invested in this production can be felt by all who hear it.
Geof Whitely Project – Supernatural Casualty
I found ‘Supernatural Casualty’ to be a box of delights. At sixteen tracks it is perhaps two or three songs too long but that doesn’t detract from what is a thoroughly satisfying piece of music.
Methexis – Suiciety
Aided by some superb musicians and a vocalist who has the skill and inherent ability to deliver everything needed, what we actually have here is an outstanding musical release.
