mewithoutYou: New Album
By Team JamBase Mar 25, 2009 • 12:12 pm PDT
In Stores May 19, 2009 / Full U.S. Club Tour Beginning June 9 to be Announced Soon
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Philly-based Aaron Weiss (vocals), Michael Weiss (guitar), Greg Jehanian (bass), and Rickie Mazzotta (drums) began their journey seven years ago, and over the course of three albums and several hundred mesmerizing shows, have consistently amazed audiences by both exciting and calming their spirits. Well-loved and unique, mewithoutYou continuously draws eccentrics, seekers, and lovers of original music.
With a sound slightly reminiscent of Arcade Fire or the Decemberists, fans familiar with the band’s full-length debut, [A -> B Life], their sophomore effort, Catch for Us the Foxes, or 2006’s Brother, Sister, will hear a surprising, but impressive shift from Aaron’s signature sing-shouting to full-fledged singing on this latest record.
Produced by Daniel Smith (Danielson Familie) and Brian McTear (Mazarin, Matt Pond PA), it’s all crazy combines heavy instruments, horns, cellos, and an orchestra of guest musicians to create a storybook sound to accompany the album’s many marvels. Asking the listener to hear creation’s groans, this record adds the cawing, chattering, and warbling of foxes, crows, bunnies, sheep, donkeys and over a dozen other animals. Even the vegetables have something profound to say in this imaginative world.
mewithoutYou’s music is an evolution of indie sounds and thoughtful, insightful lyrics that display a true questioning as to where the heart lies and an honesty about not knowing everything. The importance of their values are evident in the anguished wondering of Weiss’s open lyrics. it’s all crazy follows Brother, Sister with a series of meditations on forgiveness, love, death, and the illusions of self—all set to indelible melodies, lush compositions, and rousing choruses.
Further demonstrating mewithoutYou’s values is their lifestyle, particularly Aaron’s, both on and off the road. The band tours on a veggie bus that uses vegetable oil waste as fuel. Beyond that, the folklore behind Aaron is that he is a full-fledged freegan, a word that combines “free” and “vegan.” He owns very few possessions: no car, home, computer or cell phone. Any money he acquires goes to charities or to help family. He eats only from waste food that has been discarded by supermarkets and restaurants. His whole way of life is to minimally consume resources and to avoid materialism, values that are palpable in his songwriting.
mewithoutYou tour dates available here.
