Artist: mewithoutYou
Album: Brother, Sister
Label: Tooth and Nail
Tracks: 13
Review By: Jacob Gehman

Bands grow and change. Sometimes it is a wild, unpredictable leap (Exhibit A: Sufjan Stevens’ “A Sun Came” to “Enjoy Your Rabbit.”), sometimes it is barely discernable (Exhibit B: Switchfoot’s “The Beautiful Letdown” to “Nothing Is Sound”), but most frequent it is the gradual change (Exhibit C: Starflyer 59’s “Leave Here A Stranger” to “Old”), which allows a band to be themselves while expanding their horizons to something new and exciting. None of the sequences are free from criticism. Any of them can be spun by a dissatisfied listener into nothing more than trying to make a lot of money and sacrificing their integrity to do so. For example, see if any of these phrases ring a bell, “They’re genre-hopping to try and cash in on that new fad,” or “They’re playing it safe to avoid upsetting their current fan base.” Usually, a band will only hear one of those with any given release. mewithoutYou, however, has left themselves open to be criticized both ways with this album.

They still sound like mewithoutYou without any doubt. Yet “Brother, Sister” is a vast sonic and compositional departure from “Catch For Us The Foxes” that it will take some listeners aback. Each listener’s reaction will depend entirely on what they focus on with mewithoutYou. Those who focus on Aaron Weiss’ vocals will not find this album to be too far separated from the mewithoutYou of old. He still half mumbles, half shrieks his way through the songs, making the lyrics feel like something out of a poetry reading at an underground café. Weiss’ vocals seem to be tinted with an element of weariness this time around. Thus, the album feels darker than most of mewithoutYou’s songs.

Despite the general similarity of Aaron Weiss’ singing, there is one area in the vocal department which makes “Brother, Sister” a major change over past works. There is quite a bit of background singing which really makes the album feel rich. They add a nice contrast to Weiss’ constant meanderings and provide a vocal anchor for the listener. While the singing isn’t quite choral in it’s composition, it has that similar feeling of epic beauty. It’s the background singing that pulled me right into track one, “Messes Of Men,” and didn’t let go the rest of the album.

Everything else about the music, guitars, drums, and a wide array of other instruments, is then where this album takes off. The overall texture they paint is that of a much more organic sounding band. Aaron Weiss plays acoustic guitar on some tracks, on others he plays an accordion-like instrument. Then there are the guest spots of a harp player and rain. Anathallo lends themselves for horns and background vocals. It all blends into the “traditional” sound of the band while creating a fuller, more varied listen.

What mewithoutYou has done is craft not only a career defining masterpiece, but an album that could very well join the scene hipsters, the anti-folk crowd, the post-punk Fugazi faithful, poetry slam attendees, emo self-deprecists, and Christians all in one careless sweep.