Product Description

Producing dark and atmospheric songs, Mew possess a graceful beauty and create an epic sound with strikingly memorable tunes over which delicate vocals soar to angelic heights. Two years after their award-winning debut album Frengers wowed the critics, the Danish four-piece's follow-up, And The Glass Handed Kites is the fourth album for the dream-pop four piece but only the second to be available to a worldwide audience. Mew And The Glass Handed Kites features 14 total tracks including "Apocalypso", "Chinaberry Tree", "A Dark Design", "White Lips Kissed", "The Zookeeper's Boy", "Small Ambulance" and more.

Track Listing

1. Circuitry Of The Wolf
2. Chinaberry Tree
3. Why Are You Looking Grave
4. Fox Cub
5. Apocalypso
6. Special
7. Zookeeper's Boy
8. Dark Design
9. Saviours Of Jazz Ballet (Fear Me December)
10. An Envoy To The Open Fields
11. Small Ambulance
12. Seething Rain Weeps For You (Uda Pruda)
13. White Lips Kissed
14. Louise Louisa

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10634 in Music
• Released on: 2005-09-26
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Not a lot of bands make records like And The Glass-Handed Kites anymore. Grandiose in conception and epic in scope, it puts Mew in a rarefied circle of bands--Sigur Ros, The Mars Volta--pushing at rock’s glass ceiling in the hope of breaking through to some brave new plane.

Those looking for a quick fix may be frightened off by the opening "The Circuitry Of The Wolf", tangles of Sonic Youth guitar and distorted drums synchronised into sinister, driving riffs. Persist, though, for it’s not long until the ice begins to crack: "Apocalypso" is rent by bursts of spectacular tunefulness and glimmering xylophone passages, before melding imperceptibly into "Special", one of the album’s more delightfully restrained moments. "The Zoopkeeper’s Boy", meanwhile, imagines Mercury Rev holidaying within the Arctic Circle, chiming guitars and curiously zoological lyrics melding into something quite unique.

If there’s a problem to And The Glass Handed Kites, it that Mew constantly seem to reaching for the stars--a noble aim, but one that, across 55 minutes, can be quite wearing. Like Sigur Ros, they’re a band for a time and a place, the peak of slow-moving glaciers, the honeymoon suite of the ice hotel. Don’t overplay them, or they lose their magic. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
With AND THE GLASS HANDED KITES, Danish band Mew pushes past the varied excellences of their previous album, FRENGERS, to create an album that is as ambitious as it is disarming. The smooth, androgynous dream-pop moves through unusual timestructures, one song transitioning fluidly into the next. There are solid if gentle rock numbers, too, led by some truly excellent drumming. Jonas Bjerre's lyrics, though occasionally difficult to catch, are surreal and inventive, and J. Mascis, formerly of Dinosaur Jr., guests on two tracks as well. There is an epic feel to this album, the soaring vocals and synths pushing the band toward a sound and a feeling thatis just enormous.

Customer Reviews

Delicious
I loved the band when I first discovered them, but there are only so many times you can play an album of radio-friendly potential singles, even with their prog. rock tendancies and experimental moments. Notable memories being Comforting Sounds and She Came Home For Christmas.

Frengers was good, but ATGHK is EXCELLENT.
It IS epic. Continuous but identifiable tracks blended together to create a piece of art, not just "an album", so delicious, so edible.
Mew continues its style of trad. band combined with a shimmering of synths, effects and unconventional instrumentation. Sprinkled with beautiful layered vocals and harmonies.

If I were to criticise the release, I would mention how it doesn't quite fit first listen. It's not like a comfortable pair of jeans you can just slip on - it takes time to get used to, and I recommend breaking it down into individual tracks first and then, once familiar, playing the whole album through in order.
I might also mention my disappointment over the fact that there are so many wonderful ideas on the disc, like a Pick-n-Mix, but that they are generally brief and leave you wishing they'd extended them. They are willing to tempt you, not fulfil you (!)

But buy this. If you liked Frengers for its catchy but alternative tracks, try this to expand your love of music. Or if you got bored with Frengers after a time because after all was said and done, the songs could creep into mainstream, buy this because it's a Declaration of Independence, an assertation of the band's new and improved uniqueness.

Give it a chance - Mew are definitely going to leave you craving more.

Mew and Kites
This is one of the best records of the year. Frengers was made from other recordings spanning over 5 years or so. But '....Kites' is something alot darker and alot more well 80's!

The special thing about '....Kites' is the fact that the whole CD flows. The song never seems to end and one track just flows into the other with ease. 'Louise Louisa' is my favourite track. I urge you to buy this album and Frengers. This Danes will surely be a band you'll want to have in your collection.

Amazing
Unlike most rock music around at the minute, Mew's music actually makes you feel GOOD!! Hard to believe I know, but buy this album and you really will not be disappointed. Absolutely stunning.

Standout tracks - "Special", "Why Are You Looking Grave", "Apocalypso", and "An Envoy To The Open Fields".