If you haven’t been listening to MewithoutYou recently (you haven’t, have you?) You should start.
“It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s All Right” is MewithoutYou’s fourth and most recent album released in 2009, on Tooth and Nail records.
“It’s All Crazy!….” is full of the same vivid nature-inspired metaphors and biblical references as they have always been. It features a cast of a beetle king, warbling cardinals, a shy goat, a wise potato, a fig with a bellyache and LOADS more. The story of the angel of death coming to David’s room unfolds early in the album, with cameos by Bathsheba and Uhriah. Most songs function like fables, with wonderful stories and morals revealed at the end.
Aaron Weiss has always had the tendency to punctuate his songs with rather emotional shouting. This creates great effect and contrast but makes the lyrics tough to piece together. However, this is their most accessible album by a pretty wide margin because…
Aaron Weiss dialed back the shouting on this record by a lot. They decided to trade in their previously visceral and distorted electric sound for a more delicate lyrics-driven one. This was a great decision on the band’s part because MewithoutYou features some of the best constructed lyrics of any band currently making music. This album gives the listener much better odds of hearing what Weiss is saying! I put Weiss at 2nd best active wordsmith, only behind Colin Meloy.
Check out “It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s All Right” if you’re in to imaginative story telling, clever lyrics, and the acoustic folk/pop scene.
Don’t miss: “The Fox, The Crow, and The Cookie“, “King Beetle on the Coconut Estate”
Don’t worry about missing: “Every Thought a Thought of you”, “Timothy Hay”