When I was introduced
to mewithoutYou, there were several songs from their second album,
Catch For Us The Foxes, that I heard as well. A follow up
album can be a difficult thing to peg as you either run the risk of
repeating yourself or doing something that disappoints the fans of
your first album. I think that with this release, mewithoutYou made
a good call and stayed fairly close to the style and sound of the
first album, while thankfully not making it sound just like it. I
suppose it's that they take their sound and expand it ever so
slightly and refine it. It still mostly consists of heavy guitar and
the poetic shouting of Aaron Weiss, in true abrasive form.
The album begins with
“Torches Together,” a brilliant and intense song, easily one of
my favourites from the band. Much like “Gentlemen” from the last
album, the highlight of the song is the lyrics and vocals which emit
regret and pain. It's an emotional song and was one of the songs
that introduced me to the band and made me take interest. It's
followed by another equally fascinating song, “January 1979,”
named as such because both the singer and bassist were born in that
month and year. While maintaining the poetic shouting style, it also
has a different vocal style in the chorus to add some variation to
the mix. It's a great track and helps gives the album a very solid
start.
The album travels
through a few different sounds without taking any huge bold leaps
from their style, but they show how flexible that style is from time
to time. Whether it's the more solemn, understated “Leaf” or the
groove heavy “Tie Me Up! Untie Me!” They also allow some more
traditional singing styles in a few of the songs, like on the final
track “Son of Widow,” which help keep the listener interested by
diversifying their sound. “Disaster Tourism” starts with a deep
droning singing and moves into faster and heavier rock. “Carousels”
is a more contemplative piece, allowing an electronic processed
vocals to back up Weiss' more subdued spoken words. It's a very
memorable tune, dark and dynamic. They prove in many of their songs
that they are not afraid to break away from the verse to chorus
formula, and play around a lot with different song structures.
Another standout track
is the dramatic “The Soviet” which I appreciate more every time I
listen to it. It builds up slowly from an ominous guitar riff,
through a rock jam, into a grand, spiralling whirlwind of intensity
and emotion, and all in just over 3 minutes. It accomplishes a lot
in that time and truthfully, I wouldn't mind it being longer. The
lyrics are so full of honest desperation, both frantic and self
reflective, that it propels my emotions into a state of excitement
and melancholy. A strange feeling, but it shows how affective the
music is.
Something I didn't
touch on during my [A->B] Life review was the Christian
subject matter of their music. What I like about what kind of lyrics
they write is that it isn't typical praise music, by any means, which
is often what people associate with Christian rock. It's far more in
depth and honest, in my opinion. And while I think that praise music
can be honest, it often doesn't allow much emotional variation or
complex songwriting. Fortunately, mewithoutYou dodges the clichés
and dive right into the deeper issue of the Christian soul, where
there is just as much hurt and angst as anyone else. I think that's
why their audience transcends the Christian niche. It's still
relatable because it's about the struggle of humanity, not a God that
people may or may not believe in. It's about the people who believe
in God, which puts a face to the faith. And the people who have this
faith are not as different from the people without as some might
think.
The angst can be heavy,
but it is sincere, which is actually in line with the Psalms in the
Bible. The Psalms were a representation of how Christians are to
pray to God, and they're not always beautiful worship, but sometimes
pain and struggle and trying to come to terms with it and bringing
that to God. This is what Catch For Us The Foxes excels at.
It doesn't feel quite as abrasive at its predecessor, but it still
packs a dark and emotional punch when it needs to. It is a sad and
self deprecating record, but seems to present itself as a form of
therapy, or confession, depending on how you look at it. It's an
album that leaves an imprint, though its moments of greatness don't
quite add up to an amazing whole. It still feels like they haven't
reached their full potential. That would still be to come.
4 Stars
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