Released 25.08.09, (Columbia Records)


Like glam-gonk Mika warped on psychotropic bliss, Danish band Mew’s fifth album has big, helium-voice choruses wedded to obtuse artiness. So ‘Introducing Palace Players’ lets us know how Can would have sounded if they’d gone for a big 80s soft rock sound, while opener ‘New Terrain’ sounds like Sigur Ros experiencing the mother of all serotonin rushes.


Tricky time signatures and baroque arrangements abound, but Mew never lose sight of being either pretty or massive. Unfortunately, this means that too often songs start out promising interesting things ultimately deliver something only mildly diverting – for example the wackily-named ‘Silas the Magic Car’ and ‘Cartoons and Macramé Wounds’. Songs that should soar merely drift into tweeness of shed their unusual features once the anthemic chorus rolls around.


There are exceptions – ‘Hawaii’s mix of jaunty marching rhythm and melancholic choral refrain recalls Arcade Fire, and the introduction of a steel band makes for a genuinely interesting sound. A few more moments like this would have lifted ‘No More Stories’ into that rarified category – a record that truly mixes art house with pop nous.

Posted In Album Reviews, Aug 11 2009. Words - Richard