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 its 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.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
welcome back Jacob!
2 - joe
I've read a lot of good things about this band and I've bought [A----B] life the day it was released along with the other two albums when they hit the shelfs but the one thing i don't read about is how underrated they are...because this right here is a band of real musicians. Those are very few and far between when you think about all the bands out there now. Its a shame that people see "Christian" and automatically assume that its shit. Music is Music no matter what religion its creators practice.