mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister

[mitchables]

In my experience, there are two types of Christian musicians. The first kind is horribly preachy and annoying. Look no further than flash-in-the-pan pop sensation Joan Osborne and her provocative and thoughtful song about potential events if God was a human. The second kind manage to allude to their faith - lyrically and instrumentally - in a way that nonbelievers can enjoy and even respect. A prime example of this kind of musician is mewithoutYou.

If you haven't heard mewithoutYou, it's unfortunately a little hard to describe. Not quite indie or folk or rock or Christian, but a megablend of all of those and then some. Vocalist Aaron Weiss doesn't sing so much as dramatically read his way through their songs. He is probably one of my favourite lyricists, by the way. Ridiculously good skills. It makes for a bit of a different experience when you listen for the first time, but when you learn to love it, it rocks. The band has really driven instrumentalism too. Rolling bass, energetic guitars... so good. This CD makes excellent use of choral vocals in the background too, especially in Wolf am I! (and Shadow). And I am a sucker for good choral vocals.

Anyway. The point is, this album is excellent. I was going to write a big review but it's pretty late and the point is I really like this CD. If I had to suggest a top 5 from the CD:

Messes of Men
Wolf am I! (and Shadow)
The Dryness and the Rain
Nice and Blue, Part 2
O, Porcupine

Honorable mention to A Glass Can Only Spill What it Contains.

O, Porcupine has Jeremy Enigk from Sunny Day Real Estate on it .

Try it out. It's a bit different but it is goooooooooood.