Mew, No More Stories / Are Told Today / I’m Sorry / They Washed Away / No More Stories / The World Is Grey / I’m Tired / Let’s Wash Away

To get it out of the way first, the long title to all-male Danish trio Mew’s fifth album comes from their song “Hawaii Dream.” The CD contains two short “intermission” songs between several electronic, optimistic-sounding wonders. They utilize swelling effects with synthesizers, quick yet echoing piano, and drawn-out guitars. The sound is atmospheric, with a touch of shoegaze and a clearly foreign feel, much like Sigur Rós. The trio sings extremely high, and at times the songs become a bit frantic, but overall the album provides a relaxing half-hour for your ears, with sweet combinations of soothing vocals and whimsical music that swells and falls in a structured fashion.

For over ten years Jonas Bjerre, Bo Madsen, and Silas Utke Graae Jorgensen have been making music together, with Bjerre and Madsen knowing each other since age six and working on music in high school. They added Jorgensen to the band, and since then they’ve worked on five albums to date, quite an accomplishment for three young men in their early thirties. To prove their seriousness about this album, it was written and recorded in three different places around the world — Brooklyn, Copenhagen, and France — with guest singing by a kids choir and an 88-year-old Danish singer, Mari Helgerlikova. They even recorded some parts backwards for a real disorienting feel.

“Repeaterbeater,” the first single, has a quick beat backed with bass and vocals in the verses, which turns into a rushed medley of colliding instruments in the choruses to emulate the desperation of the words. “Hawaii” has uplifting lyrics about making mistakes and forgiving yourself for them and “Cartoons and Macramé Wounds” builds up to loud chaos with a marxophone from the 1950s and then ends with melodic humming, while “Vaccine” includes a marimba to flesh out all the voiceless sections. Some songs slip into a sadder, more bleak mood — which could be expected from the title — like “Tricks of the Trade,” which begs the question, “Why does it have to be / It’s always you and me?”

I would recommend the band to fans of Air or any other band with high-pitched male vocals and layered harmonies (excluding maybe The Beegees and Hanson). Mew, however, stands on their own as a band who’s worked on this sound for over a decade and still tries to make it innovative and new to the ear without stretching into unpleasant territory. They even feature cartoon drawings behind them on stage when they perform. Definitely give this CD a listen for an engaging experience. I like it more each time.