And The Glass Handed Kites

It absolutely astonishes me sometimes, how a band like this can go unnoticed for so long and yet be SO freakin' good!!! This is my first foray into their music and as a lover of ' Mercury Rev ' and ' MGMT ' I have found soul-mates in ' MEW '. Orchestral, lavish and sprawling, their music is soulful, intelligent and thoughtful, a perfect accompaniment for a Hot Summer's Day. Oh MEW...you have melted my heart!!!

It rarely gets better than this. Definitely the finest of Mews releases that I've heard, this is an incredible album that'll grow on you and stay there. It's one of those epics were every track blends into the next but the massive variation between songs means you'll never be confused and the album never drags. Beautiful songs and excellent muscianship.

Excellent item as described. Prompt dispatch, safe and sound. Top marks.

This is truly one of THE great modern rock albums. These days I like my rock music to have progressive-leanings, without being all-out prog rock as such, and this is one of the first albums to introduce me to that 'sound'. The earlier Mew material was similarly interesting, but to my ear it was lacking the elements that elevate this album.Upon first listening, I found it tough to get into, as it's hooks weren't immediately obvious. What did strike me is the way the tracks seemed to link into each other seamlessly, almost as if the tracks had been written back-to-back. The first song to digs it's claws into me was 'Special', which wormed it's way into my head & made itself at home for several days. The other tracks soon followed suit.The music itself has everything: gorgeous melodies, exceptional vocals, amazing musicianship. However, it was the irregular time signatures that really struck me as fresh & original; truly these were rhythms that seemed to make no sense to me! When I listen to them now, they seem obvious and 'normal', but this is only because I've felt compelling to seek out similar music ever since, along with writing and recording similar music myself (for those with similar taste, you may like to check out my band 'The Black Light':  All Forgotten Dreams Their follow-up album is also a personal favourite of mine, but their more recent work has not scaled the heights of this album in my opinion. I highly recommend And The Glass-Handed Kites to anyone who loves clever alternative rock music with a progressive edge.

Mew are a powerful band, blending hard rock, prog and indierock with a sweeping hand, and turning out expansive music that sounds like nothing else.And the Danish band not disappoint in "And the Glass Handed Kites," which takes the style of their third album "Frengers" and expands on it. The result? A brilliant, shimmering piece of rock'n'roll that sounds like nothing -- and everything -- else.It opens with a soft whine, some hesitant drums and tuning guitar, as if the band is just starting a live set. Then they gradually swing into a solid, ringing guitar riff interspersed with blasting bass and soft shimmers of keyboard. No lyrics. Except for a few angel-rock cries, they don't need 'em.That changes with the swirling "Chinaberry Tree," with Jonas Bjerre singing about a passionate love that is disrupted: "As my first love said to me:/"I don't care. I'm not there"/So that I could not sleep/My whole being was falling apart/So that I soon cried out: "Dear friends, hold me!"From there on, Mew tear through other sorts of music: thunderous hard rock, shivering proggy pop, riff-heavy indierock, epic anthems of stormy sound, and silvery sweeps of eerie balladry. What's more, the songs all flow into each other with hardly any pauses, until it sounds like one enormous song.Breakout albums are usually a bit more commercial than this one -- although the songs can be catchy, there aren't any real singles, and you'd be hard-pressed to find something so intricate and intelligent on MTV.And their music is what makes them so brilliant -- ringing, driving riffs, sharp percussion and thunderlike bass spill over the circling melodies. They're softened by soaring organ and keyboard (and a bit of sparkly piano in one song), which add an almost transcendent quality to songs like the epic "Louise Louisa." Rockwise, this is like having a religious experience.At first listen, Bjerre's light voice sounds rather ordinary. But as the album wears on, he sounds hopeful and slightly forlorn, as he sings songs of exquisite strangeness. "Are you, my lady, are you?... In a submersible I can hardly breathe/As it takes me inside, so the light sings/Answer me truthfully/Do the clouds kiss you/With meringue-coloured hair?"From spun-glass ballads to epic hard-rock, Mew twines together all sorts of styles into their own art-rock masterpiece. Absolutely stunning.