mewithoutYou It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright review
Posted by RNS Robot on December 18th, 2009
mewithoutYou
It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright
Tooth & Nail
11 tracks / 44:49
www.mewithoutYou.com
Offering a neat summation of the new mewithoutYou disc is as difficult as it is to box in the group’s spirituality or musical orientation. It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright largely leaves behind the band’s post-hardcore roots, completing the progression to quirky indie-folk (set in motion by much of the preceding album Brother, Sister). mewithoutYou number four has more in common with Danielson Famile and Sufjan Stevens; fittingly, Danielson founder Daniel Smith produced Alright. The stylistic shift further emphasizes lyricist and singer Aaron Weiss’ storytelling abilities. Alright is awash in parables and rich, layered metaphors, utilizing Judeo-Christian tradition and literature along with the teachings of Sufi mystic Bawa Muhaiyaddeen to explore spirituality and human weakness or worship the Creator.
Don’t let the phrase “folk” fool you: there is much more to Alright than acoustic guitar and singalongs. Flute, harp, trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, tuba, violin, cello and more are arranged wonderfully throughout the album. The orchestration and more traditional rock instrumentation meld together to create a diverse sonic canvas upon which Weiss sings in a nervous, gentle lilt his seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics (no, Aaron does not SHOUT ALL THE TIME; yes, he can sing). mewithoutYou eschews the pop song formula in favor of repetitious (not repetitive) ‘campfire’ tracks like “The Angel of Death came to David’s Room” and “Allah, Allah, Allah;” artfully simple (rather than simplistic) on “a Stick, a Carrot & String” and “Timothy hay;” even in movements (“Fig with a Bellyache”). The lyrics can be certainly challenging at times, but kneejerk reactions to ‘uncomfortable’ material should be immediately dismissed; Weiss’ spoken scribblings are to be savored, contemplated, and explored…
…but mewithoutYou, for all their talent and skill, may just more than another ‘rock band.’ Purity drips from It’s Alright; it may be appropriate to describe it as ‘holy.’ To listen to the album and not be touched seems absurd, a fantastic impossibility. The climax of “Timothy Hay,” the subtle way “a Stick, a Carrot & String” disarms the cynical wit with gentleness and a peaceful yet world-changing story, Weiss singing “if your old man did you wrong, maybe his old man did him wrong, so if you’d care to sing forgiveness songs, come down and join our band… we’ll cut you like a sword and sing forgiveness song” all offer a transcendent, incarnational experience. It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright is a beautifully written, richly recorded and mixed record on one plane of existence and simultaneously a mystical, religious experience on another; a humble offering of art which offers sustenance for each the ear, the mind, and even the very soul.
Tags: 2009 Releases, Aaron Weiss, mewithoutYou, Tooth & Nail Records