Mew
330 Ritch, San Francisco, CA
October 19, 2006

Having completed the destruction of my ears with the closing notes of the Yo La Tengo show at 11:30pm, Veronica and i hopped in the Jetta and drove across the city to 330 Ritch and Popscene, having fully expected to miss the evening's performance by Danish visitors Mew. But to our surprise, upon walking up to the doors we heard the opening strains of favorite "Special" emanating from the club. After Veronica convinced her bouncer friend to let us in despite rules to the contrary during a performance, i wandered over to a spot at the back and had a look. "Special" sounded fantastic, with the plucked guitar and off-beat drums as resonant as on And the Glass Handed Kites. I fully expected that we'd shown up during their last song, but to my double surprise the band played for another 30 minutes. Apparently we have the unforeseen opening band to thank for our timely arrival. I've used a lot of monikers to describe Mew in the last few weeks ... neo-shoegazing, noise pop, drone rock ... and i'm trying to kick that habit. I think Aaron Popscene put it nicely, "they capture the sound of all those bands we love". Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Chapterhouse ... it's all in there. Updated for 2006. The set ended with the epic "Comforting Sounds", the only song i got to see of theirs when they opened for Bloc Party and Broken Social Scene a few months back. A worthy climax beginning with a simple guitar riff and airy vocal piece, and building into an instrumental, atmospheric crescendo worthy of Sigur Rós. In this review i seem to have gone from quoting labels to quoting similar bands, which is an equal disservice. Since 1997 Mew has quietly put together a stunning collection of music, and showcased it admirably on this trip to the Bay Area. They opened for Kasabian last week, and seem poised to make a splash stateside. With Aaron Popscene firmly behind them, anything is possible.

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