MEW
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MEW

“I remember the first piece of music I ever owned was ‘Love Cats’ 7’ by The Cure,” smiled front man Jonas Bjerre. “I played it on 33 [rpm], not knowing it was meant to be played on 45 – it was in very slow motion,” he laughed. “I couldn’t make out what he was singing (also my English wasn’t so good then) so I just kinda made up my own interpretation of what he was saying.
“Until one day I remember reading what the actual lyrics were and I was so disappointed because it didn’t fit my vision of the song,” Bjerre continued. “I mean, it’s a great lyric – I’m not trying to insult Robert Smith – but when I was a kid I had a different idea of what the song was about, you know? That’s why I love to leave my lyrics open to interpretation – they’re abstract and hopefully create imagery that makes you feel something. We get caught up in the detail, that’s why it took us so long to finish this album and why it’s very gratifying to finally be able to share it with other people.”
Fans of the band have waited six long years for the follow-up to 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’ Keeping with the tradition of enigmatic album titles, Danish art rockers MEW are proud to announce the release of their sixth studio album +- (pronounced plus minus), out now through [PIAS].
Known for their indie-pop sensibilities and penchant for layered production +- is everything you’d expect and more. “We put so much of ourselves into every little part, and that’s why it feels so valuable to us,” Bjerre explained. “Although I do think we learned a lot making this record, I think we can speed things up in the future – but we say that every time!” he grinned. “We just had so much fun, I enjoyed every minute of it.”
Bjerre says that the addition of Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack on ‘My Complications’ added to the experience, as did the return of bassist Johan Wolhert after his departure in 2006 to focus on becoming a father. “Having him [Johan] back is another beautiful thing – we’re like family. To be honest, we’re all really close. We grew up musically together, none of us ever had any formal training, we learned how to play music together. We didn’t know what the name of the chords were, we just struck our guitars and we liked the way it sounded. That’s how we got into it – it’s kinda like our own musical language.
“We’ve also have some made-up Danish words we use once in a while, like ‘frengers’,” he smiled. Also the title of their 2003 breakthrough album, “A frenger is a person who is not quite a friend and not quite a stranger,” Bjerre explained.
Australia is full of potential frengers of the band – in fact there’s a Facebook page devoted entirely to a campaign to have MEW tour the country for the first time ever. Good news Mewstralian’s – Bjerre is aware of your efforts and hopes to meet you all soon.
“I don’t know exactly when yet, but we’re working very hard to make it possible,” he said. “I feel terrible because it’s a dream of mine to go, and we know that there are people who like what we do in Australia and they’re waiting for us to come.” Become a frenger and show your support at www.facebook.com/mewstralia.
Release: +- available at all good retailers now
Written by Natalie Rogers