Mew - The Angel's Flight

After six years, Mew return with a new album titled “+-“. For the occasion, we sent a few questions via email to singer Jonas Bjerre. Enjoy the read!

So, let's start with a few routine questions. You kept us waiting quite a while! Why is that? And how much of that time was actually spent writing, and how much resting?

Yes, I know. Well, it wasn't something we wanted to happen, we wanted to release it much earlier, but for a number of reasons it took a long time.

First of all, we toured a lot for the last album, about a year and a half, plus another six months on and off. We were a bit tired, and we decided to take a break, spend some time at home. Each of us worked on different things outside of Mew, and I think it was a great experience for us: it gave us a fresh perspective to bring back into the band.

Then we took a little trip and started writing new songs, but we felt like we were repeating ourselves, while we wanted a new sound, a new approach to songwriting. And it was very hard to do, just the three of us: it felt like “No More Stories” might be the peak of what we could ever achieve as a trio. So our producer Michael Beinhorn came to listen to us and immediately suggested inviting Johan (Wohlert, the bassist, ed.) back to play with us. Things quickly came into focus: it immediately felt as if he'd never left the band. There were other things going on during the writing process too. We kept touring, which was great, since we got to try out the songs in front of an audience, and that gave us a better perspective on the tracks. We benefited a lot from it.

What's the concept behind the title and cover of “+-“?

The name is short, and we wanted a short name this time. We like doing the opposite of what we did last time, I think. Mathias from m/m (Paris), who created the artwork, suggested the album felt a bit like a battery, because it charged you up as you listened to it. That got us thinking about the opposite poles present in the album, the contrasts between the elements. It seemed to fit perfectly. The cover was made as mentioned by m/m but also incorporates the four egg-shaped characters created by Hyunji Choi in Korea. To me it's a colourful, complex cover, with a lot of layers, and that's exactly why it suits the album's music so well.

Did you start writing with any guidelines, sounds in your heads that you wanted to achieve, or was it all spontaneous?

It was actually quite spontaneous. In the past we've made albums very much built around a single idea, but this time we wanted to make one that was more in control of itself, rather than us trying to force it into a certain mood or sound. We just listened to what came out of our heads, and let each song be whatever it wanted to be. It was liberating. I think that really comes through when you listen to it.

Was there a usual process for writing the songs, or did it change from song to song?

For each album we put together different processes. We find most of our songs together, simply while we're playing something happens and that's how the songs take shape. But there are always a few songs that start with one person bringing a precise idea to create something, maybe a part to start from.

Okay, now a few more introspective questions!

One of my favorites!

How would you describe "+-" in relation to your previous albums? When you listen to them now, how do you feel?

For me every album represents a period of our lives, the things we were going through at the time, both creatively and personally. It's really hard for me to be objective, because there's so much of us in every album. They are what they are, in a way they document who we were. They're our history, and I hope they're also a small part of other people's. I think that's the most a band can hope for.

How attached are you to your homeland? Do you find more inspiration in your own country or in traveling?

We've spent a lot of time in other countries; we lived in London for years, and we spent long periods in Los Angeles and New York. I love traveling, visiting new places, but now we all live in Copenhagen, where we're from, and for now that suits us well enough. In a sense, it doesn't matter much where we are, because a lot of the work happens away from home anyway. But I think it's nice to have a place to think of as a point of reference. Traveling is definitely hugely inspiring though, and luckily we do it often. I think there's a sense of melancholy in Nordic culture that runs through a lot of the art coming out of the Scandinavian peninsula. I don't think we Mew are an exception.

Was there a moment when you thought: "Wow, it looks like we're famous!"?

Ha! I'm not sure, but there was definitely a moment of realizing we'd come a long way. A lot of people love what we do, and it's a wonderful gift, a great privilege, and I feel truly grateful for it every day. It all happened in steps, sometimes leaps. But I distinctly remember the first time we heard one of our songs on the radio. We were pretty young, and it was a demo that had been played on a Danish radio station. It was so sudden! And before you know it, without understanding how, you find yourself playing on the stages of big festivals. In a way I still don't get it.

Let's wrap up with a few questions about the present and the future. I read in your bio that a pivotal event in your life as musicians was a My Bloody Valentine concert. What do you think of their comeback, and more generally, of the shoegaze revival?

I think "m b v" is a great album, but for me it will never have the impact of "Isn't Anything" or "Loveless". Because those albums were the backdrop to a lot of my teenage years, and they changed the way I thought about music. I didn't know there was a shoegaze revival, but I'm quite interested in the similarities between a certain strain of doom metal and shoegaze itself. I like it a lot.

When you're young your mind is like a book full of blank pages, and you're open to anything new. We tried to condition ourselves, listening to a lot of strange stuff, just to see how it would influence our creativity. I think that's an important thing to do, always taking on new challenges. A lot of people, as they grow up, only want things that are immediately pleasing. But listening to music, experiencing art, has a lot to do with learning new things. Some things, though, need time before you can appreciate them. And it's not hard, it's not hard work, it just takes an open mind. Maybe I need to listen to "MBV" again, with an open mind. I might like it more, maybe even more than the previous albums.

Can you recommend some new music from Denmark?

I'd recommend Silo, who just released a new album. They use guitars, but it's not guitar music. They have a very melodic groove. Truly fantastic. And I sing on one of the songs!

Then there's Communions, a very young band with a great sense of melody. Shiny Darkly are another great young band, a bit darker (as you can guess from the name), similar to Lust For Youth, who make very catchy pop. I just saw them in Tokyo, it was a great show. But also Pre-Be-Un, who are a great pop band but with some really strange ideas. And finally Kala-Ol, a Danish/Chinese group, very original and exciting.

We'll see you play in Italy next month. By the way, I can't wait! Can you give us a preview of the show?

It'll be our first live show in Italy after quite a while! I can't wait! I love Italy, I visited often as a kid, and it always bothered me that we hadn't played there enough. We had to do something about it, right? There'll be new songs and old ones, and we're working on something really cool to bring to the stage, which of course I can't say anything about yet...

Thanks, and goodbye! See you in Milan!

Bye! See you there, Cosimo!

Ride the wave of great music

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