The elusive Mew is back with an album to promote in what seems like over a decade since we heard new material (wait, it has been over a decade).
Some jokingly conjured up rumours that when the bass player was unfortunate enough to have his gear stolen the trio may have called it quits.
The band did tour the Frengers material for over five-years and seemed like a band that had created their masterpiece and were too afraid to move beyond the musical scope covered on that album; maybe incase they tainted their legacy?!
The new album, +- provides plenty of Mew-isms, but also contains a fresh, spunk-fuelled barrage of emotively passion-laden rock-pop sentiments, along with some more elusive and complex melodies that make the new material hit’n’miss upon first listening, however, what matters most is that Mew is back on the live circuit again.
The band doesn’t interact with the crowd much tonight, creating a dreamy-like set of anthemic pop all with a trippy and ethereal light show.
When Johan Wohlert does talk, he decides to talk about his links with Glasgow (their guitar tech and tour manager are both from Glaswegian) and how they lived in the city for a while, which is one of the reason they love coming back.
Surprisingly, Wohlert also hints and the long-sustaining period when they toured with their material from the album Frengers, and apparently it is due to their love for that album.
The new material go down OK, but it is the classics the die-hard fans want to hear, and when they played the “classics,” (material from Mew and the Glass Handled Kites and Frengers: Not quite friends, but not quite strangers) the crowd back Wohlert word for word.
A terrific performance and a splendid light show to set the mood and the new songs the band slip into the setlist go down alright, however, going by Mew’s track record, there will be plenty of time to become well acquainted with the new material for the bands next couple of visits to Glasgow in the coming years.
Words: Derek Robertson
Photos: Jayjay Robertson
