Album: mewithoutYou – it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright

ALBUM REVIEW: mewithoutYou – it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright

Words: Gareth O’Malley

I have to admit this, right. When we had our first taste of the new mewithoutYou record, I was rather shocked – “Wait, hang on, where’s Aaron Weiss’ trademark sing-shouting gone!?”. We had known for a while that LP4 was going to be radically different to any of the Philadelphia band’s other output. ‘In A Sweater Poorly Knit’, the astonishing closer on 2006’s Brother, Sister and one of my favourite songs of all time, as well as the folkier interludes on that album, had hinted at a shift in sound, but even those could not prepare me for ‘Every Thought a Thought of You’, the first track on ‘it’s all crazy!…” It is quite the impressive opener, containing a lot of religious references (‘no-one here to believe but you… no-one here to believe in you’ – you’ll find that this is something that runs though the album – more on that later). Weiss’ lyrics are as good as ever, and the song has a math-rocky (!?) feel to it. The song’s climax is certainly unusual – an Arabic chant and horns make their way in there, before the song finishes with the strains of an organ.

Next up, the band (that’s Weiss; his brother, guitarist Michael Weiss; bassist Greg Jehanian; and drummer Rickie Mazzotta) deliver one of the songs of the year in ‘The Fox, the Crow, and the Cookie’, a joyous three-and-a-half minute romp, and the band’s take on the story by the sufi, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. In fact, many of his concepts are explored on this album: ‘Allah, Allah, Allah’ is about seeing God in every blade of grass and ‘Fig with a Bellyache’ deals with sexual temptation. Lyrical themes focus, particularly, on spiritual reflection and existential meaning through the love of God and others.

The album is certainly a more melodic affair than their other work, and the music to accompany the lyrics is quite often light of heart. However, it takes a darker turn on ‘The Angel of Death Came To David’s Room’, combining with the repetitive lyrics, which are about where we’re all headed, of course, to devastating effect. The song’s climax is a real hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck moment.

Aaron Weiss is, in my opinion, one of the best lyricists of the decade, but even he is not above the occassional misstep. ‘Bullet to Binary (Part 2)’ comes across as a little too preachy, particularly this line: ‘From each time you disrespect your parents/You better hope we don’t hear it/We who know, you’re gonna reap what you sow’. Certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.

‘Timothy Hay’ has the best melody on the album, instantly memorable and sure to stick in your head if you let it. The lyrics are delivered in a stream-of-consciousness style, as usual, Weiss effortlessly telling a story over Mazzotta’s exceptional drumming. Oh yes, and chalk one up for the religious too: ‘What a beautiful God there must be’.

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen shows up again on penultimate track ‘The King Beetle On A Coconut Estate’, which is quite an orchestral track, each character in the story introduced with a choice instrument, highlighting the incredible attention to detail on this album. Around three minutes in, dramatics ensue: ‘We asked for the great light, and you bring us this/We didn’t ask what it seems like, we asked what it is!’. The song takes a dramatic U-turn, before a chant enters (‘Why not be utterly changed into fire?’) and brings the astonishing six-minute piece to a close.

‘Allah, Allah, Allah’ (in case you didn’t know, ‘Allah’ is the Arabic word for God [ed: sic]) wraps things up extremely well. Once again, the lyrics are repetitive, as the emphasis is placed on the tune. The song contains possibly the best ending of the year thus far; Weiss’ cry of ‘Bring it back now, one more time!’ heralds an explosion that brings the album to a close in style.

This is an astonishing body of work. Each member of the band has really come into his own as a musician, and the lyrics are not focussed on, for a change. That is not, of course, to say that they are not of a very high standard. Whether devastating (‘Angel of Death’, ‘King Beetle’) or uplifting (‘The Fox, The Crow and the Cookie’, ‘Timothy Hay’), mewithoutYou are on form throughout. This record was highly anticipated. It has delivered. And how.