Otherworldly: Mew

  Producing dark and atmospheric songs, Mew posses a graceful beauty and create an epic sound with strikingly memorable tunes over which delicate vocals soar to angelic heights. Two years after their award-winning debut album 'Frengers' wowed the critics, the Danish four-piece's follow-up, 'And The Glass Handed Kites', is about to hit the shelves. At a recent show in London, Mew's taster for the new album, 'Apocalypso', with its heavy guitar riffs, glittering synths and sheer dynamics received a rapturous reception. Gigwise met up with the band's amiable lyricist and front man, Jonas Bjerre, and their soft-spoken drummer, Silas Graae, who reflected on their music, touring with REM and the new album.   Mew's songs are emotional and imaginative, and take listeners into undiscovered territory. "People want to move, want to get carried away. We give them something, and they can take it somewhere else," says Silas choosing his words carefully. "We compare music with travels or experiences," he continues in his mid-Atlantic accent. "When you hear a song on the radio, there's a verse and a chorus, and you already know the destination when you've heard two minutes or even just twenty seconds. You know where it's going to end. We like to take people somewhere where they don't know what to expect. It's like being attacked from the side or behind." Jonas laughs: "We force our way into their souls."   Live, the Danes engulf the audience with their own visuals, often dark and scary. Images of violin-playing animals, billowing fog or masked men assault the senses. Add Jonas with his crystalline voice on a dark stage, his face lit up, moving slowly with his eyes closed, and people are drawn into Mew's alien world. "The music and the visuals go hand in hand," says Silas. "It's meant to create a mood and to make people forget they're in a rock club. Make it seem otherworldly," says Jonas.   The material for Jonas' lyrics comes from dreams and nightmares, and touches on anxiety, fear, hardships of love and animals. Movingly poetic lines such as "On her swing / Black waves come / And so fear me, December / Sinking in nolan time" on 'Apocalypso' emphasise the songs' atmosphere and illustrate the care put into it. "I spend hours before I just keep the lyrics that first come to my mind." Jonas smiles, "Though 'nolan' was the first thing I was saying when we were playing the melody, and I kept it. It sounds ridiculous but this song's about fear, and the word also stems from fear. I went to the dentist in LA and his name was Dr Nolan."   Success often comes with a price, and touring with REM gave the foursome an opportunity to talk over some issues. "We talked a lot with Michael Stipe. It was exciting and very educational. He knows how to handle different aspects of being a musician. The thing about playing music is the more people love your stuff the more people also hate you. It's hard to handle it sometimes, that people you've never met, who don't know you at all, just blatantly hate your guts."   Mew like to be in control, which was one reason they moved to London four years ago in close proximity to their record company. Yet with their new album, released on September 26th, the four-piece followed their gut instincts. "In the old days we always thought out every single step," says Jonas. "The new album's more intuitive in the way that not all the material had been completely finished when we went to the studio. Even though we wrote the songs meticulously, we were playing around with them."