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Mew

 
Artist: Mew
Mew

Group Members:

Silas Graae, Johan Wohlert, Bo Madsen, Jonas Bjerre

Similar Artists:

Influenced By:

Formal Connection With:

Almighty Lumberjacks of Death
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "No More Stories Are Told Today Sorry...," "And the Glass Handed Kites," "Triumph for Man"

Biography

The members of space pop innovators Mew first met in the seventh grade in Hellerup, Denmark. Before they could even play instruments, the ambitious youths -- singer Jonas Bjerre, guitarist Bo Madsen, bassist Johan Wohlert, and drummer Silas Graae -- were ready to make music together, although they initially failed as a band called Orange Dog. Madsen briefly spent time in the United States before the guys came back together in their late teens as Mew. Inspired by My Bloody Valentine, the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., the Pet Shop Boys, and Prince, the Danish quartet's first gig impressed a book-publishing agent in the audience so much that he promptly convinced his company to change their business plan and release Mew's debut album.

Limited to only 2,000 copies, A Triumph for Man was issued in 1997 to critical acclaim. Making things even more dramatic for their gigs, the Mew live experience came to incorporate background animations created by Bjerre. The band followed up three years later with Half the World Is Watching Me, released on their own newly created label, Evil Office. The album saw a limited release in Sweden before the band hooked up with Sony for an international deal. As a result of the deal, the album was ultimately pulled so that they could re-record their best work to date for a world-wide release. The resulting well-received Frengers appeared in 2003. That same year, the band picked up Album of the Year and Band of the Year honors at the Danish Music Critics Awards. Mew's expansive pop dramatics, intricate passages, and shimmering atmospheric sound were further elaborated on for album number four, And the Glass Handed Kites. The record was issued in Europe and the U.K. in September 2005; an American release followed in July 2006. Wohlert had exited the group that spring to be with his growing family, though Mew continued touring during the summer on U.S. dates with Bloc Party. The band's fifth full-length album, No More Stories Are Told Today..., arrived in 2009. ~ Corey Apar, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Mew (band)
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Mew

Background information
Origin Hellerup, Denmark
Genres Alternative rock
Indie rock
Shoegazing
New prog
Post-rock
Dream pop[1]
Experimental rock
Years active 1994–present
Labels Exlibris Musik, Evil Office, Sony BMG, Sony Music Entertainment
Website www.mewsite.com
Members
Jonas Bjerre
Bo Madsen
Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen
Former members
Johan Wohlert

Mew is a Danish alternative music band consisting of Jonas Bjerre, Bo Madsen, and Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen. Bassist Johan Wohlert was also a founding member of the band, but left in 2006. Whilst their music may be classified as indie and on occasion (like on And the Glass Handed Kites) progressive rock, they sometimes humorously refer to it themselves as "pretentious art rock". The band's guitarist Bo Madsen refers to the band as "the world's only indie stadium band".

Contents

History

Formed in 1994 in Hellerup, an upper-class suburb of Copenhagen, they had a profound impact on the Danish indie scene, emerging alongside the likes of Carpark North, Swan Lee and Saybia, amongst others, in 2003. At the 2003 Danish Music Critics Award Show, Mew won the awards for "Album of the Year" and "Band of the Year".

Their first major commercial success came with Frengers, released in 2003, described as "a work of quiet brilliance, aiming for the epic without straying into the bombastic, offering cerebral arrangements while keeping things accessible."[2] The album was well received. After a European tour supporting R.E.M. they began to attract wider attention. Their next album And the Glass Handed Kites was released in Denmark on 19 September 2005, in the United Kingdom and rest of Europe on 26 September, and in the United States on 25 July 2006. The album received critical acclaim, with Mew described as making "dreamy thunderstorm pop".[3] They were MTV Asia "Buzz-Worthy" as of January, 2006, and at the DMA06 (Danish Music Awards) they took home 4 statuettes.

On 11 April 2006, Wohlert left the band to spend more time with his girlfriend, Pernille Rosendahl from the now dissolved band Swan Lee, who was to give birth to their baby boy in May 2006. The two would later go on to form a duo, The Storm.

The band tours with Nick Watts (formerly of UK indie band Headswim) as their keyboardist, and Bastian Juel (who used to act as a studio and live bassist for Swan Lee and also played bass on Tina Dico's EP Far) recently joined them as their live bassist. However, he is not an official replacement for Johan and the band has said they will return to the studio with just the three original members.

The band finished touring for And the Glass Handed Kites in the summer of 2007. They returned to Brooklyn, New York in May 2008 in order to begin recording their next record, and tapped Rich Costey (who produced their breakthrough album, Frengers) once again as producer.

The band's fifth album No More Stories... was released on August 17 in Scandinavia, August 24th in the UK, and August 25th in the US[4].

The band supported Nine Inch Nails for various tour dates with Jane's Addiction in Europe 2009.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Year Details Peak chart position Certifications
(sales thresholds)
DEN
[5]
FIN
[6]
NOR
[7]
SWE
[8]
UK
[9][10]
1997 A Triumph for Man
  • Released: 1997, 2006 (reissue)
  • Label: Exlibris Musik
8
2000 Half the World Is Watching Me 34
2003 Frengers
  • Released: April 2003, 2007 (reissue)
  • Label: Sony BMG, Epic
2 36 6 102
2005 And The Glass Handed Kites
  • Released: 19 September 2005
  • Label: Sony BMG
2 4 4 36 129
2009 No More Stories...1
  • Released: 19 August 2009
  • Label: Sony BMG
1 2 2 41 110

1 The name in its entirety is: 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.

EPs

Singles

Year Single Peak chart position Album
DEN
[11]
FIN
[12]
NOR
[13]
SWE
[14]
UK
[9]
1997 "She Came Home for Christmas" [a] 55 A Triumph for Man
2000 "King Christian" Half the World Is Watching Me
"Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years"
"Mica"
"Am I Wry? No" [b] 16 47
2003 "Comforting Sounds" 48 Frengers
"156" 11
2005 "Apocalypso" 75 And the Glass Handed Kites
"Special" 46
2006 "Why Are You Looking Grave?" 20 53
"The Zookeeper's Boy" 13 80
2009 "Introducing Palace Players" [c] No More Stories...
Notes
  • a^ Re-released in 2000, 2002 and 2003. Peaked at #76 on the UK Singles Chart on 2002.
  • b^ Re-released in 2003. Peaked at #137 on UK Singles Chart on its first release.
  • c^ Download-only

Other singles

Year Single Album
2000 "I Should Have Been a Tsin-Tsi for You" A Triumph for Man

B-Sides

Song Title
Animals Of Many Kinds
Bones (Song For Albert)
City Voices
Drown
Forever And Ever
In Time Do You Forget? (Daydream)
Killer
Like Chaser
Like Papercuts
Misplaced
Nothing Is Red
Quietly
Safe As Houses
Succubus
Superfriends
That Time On The Ledge
Watch This Space
Where Have All The Geysers Gone?
Wherefore Are You Not There?
Shiroi Kuchiburu No Izanai
King Christian (New Version)
Mica (New Version)
She Came Home for Christmas (Acoustic)
Swimmer's Chant
Start
Owl
Nervous

Videography

DVDs

  • Live in Copenhagen (2006)

Music videos

  • 1996 "I Should Have Been A Tsin-Tsi For You"
  • 2001 "Mica"
  • 2003 "Am I Wry? No"
  • 2003 "156"
  • 2003 "She Came Home for Christmas"
  • 2003 "That Time On The Ledge" (Unofficial music video)
  • 2003 "Comforting Sounds"
  • 2005 "Apocalypso" (Internet promo video only)
  • 2005 "Special"
  • 2006 "The Zookeeper's Boy"
  • 2006 "Why Are You Looking Grave?"
  • 2009 "Introducing Palace Players"
  • 2009 "Repeaterbeater"

See also

References

  1. ^ http://stereogum.com/archives/album-art/mew-are-back-go-full-fiona-apple-with-this-new-alb_069752.html
  2. ^ Bang. Sony. 2003
  3. ^ Mew: And the Glass-Handed Kites: Pitchfork Record Review
  4. ^ http://pitchfork.com/news/35346-new-mew-album-details-extremely-long-title-crazy-tracklist/
  5. ^ "Denmark: search - Mew albums". danishcharts.com. http://danishcharts.com/search.asp?search=mew&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
  6. ^ "Finland: search - Mew albums". finnishcharts.com. http://finnishcharts.com/search.asp?search=mew&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
  7. ^ "Norway: search - Mew albums". norwegiancharts.com. http://norwegiancharts.com/search.asp?search=mew&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
  8. ^ "Sweden: search - Mew albums". swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=mew&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
  9. ^ a b "UK Chartlog : M : M – My Vitriol". zobbel.de. http://zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_M.HTM. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
  10. ^ "UK Chartlog: CLUK Update 5.09.2009 (wk35)". zobbel.de. http://zobbel.de/cluk/090905cluk.txt. Retrieved 2009-09-03. 
  11. ^ "Denmark: search - Mew singles". danishcharts.com. http://danishcharts.com/search.asp?search=mew&cat=s. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
  12. ^ "Finland: search - Mew singles". finnishcharts.com. http://finnishcharts.com/search.asp?search=mew&cat=s. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
  13. ^ "Norway: search - Mew singles". norwegiancharts.com. http://norwegiancharts.com/search.asp?search=mew&cat=s. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
  14. ^ "Sweden: search - Mew singles". swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=mew&cat=s. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 

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