Indifference is Killing Me
Not only is the world speeding past lately in a bit of a blur but we're having technical difficulties around here at the moment. We'll be back up in working order soon. We hope. In the meantime...
When I am in one of those mental spaces when the world is overwhelming my brain and I can't get a grip on any of the things floating past me I know it's time to throw on my headphones and take a step back. The number one band to start to calm me down at that point? Mew1. I'm not sure what it is about their world of dreamy guitars and falsetto that brings me back down to a nicer place, but it always seems to work. Perhaps because my mind slips back to Denmark, the wonderland that I've loved since that moment as an impressionable 10-year-old when I walked into the lobby of the SAS Royal Hotel. Denmark to me has always been a place where emotions are heightened, the saturation level on my eyes appears to be turned up a notch, the sunlight gives a glitter to everything it touches and all sound is perfect clarity. Life either glistens brighter or hurts all the more.
The last time I was in Copenhagen was September 20042. I walked down some side street on the Strogget with my headphones on and could feel a migraine coming on (I blame it on the horrible ferry trip from Norway). I ducked into some small record store and slipped off my own headphones to see what they were playing. I walked into the wall of sound that is Frengers. While this was not my first exposure to Mew, it was what sold me. I quickly grabbed up the Mew3 records that I could find despite the not-very-kind-to-the-American-dollar exchange rate.
1 Since I can't share new content at the moment (we told you there are technical difficulties), I'm nicking an mp3 from KEXP and going to expound for a minute on the intricacies that are Mew. They are no strangers to my blog. I have blathered on and on about them for years now, and about a year ago it seemed the world was finally posed to take notice when glowing reviews for And The Glass Handed Kites seemed to pop up everywhere. Well we've cycled out of the record, the band has finally stopped touring on it (after a nearly two year run) and they've dropped back off the radar. I'm sure they've retired to London (or Copenhagen, wherever they are living at the moment) to finally get some sleep and spend another two years building yet another masterpiece. I will wait patiently.
2 Eeek! I need to get on things and get back to Scandinavia!
3 And Swan Lee and Eggstone and The Tremolo Beer Gut
Buy some: Mew