mewithoutYou’s Brother, Sister

I’ve always thought that mewithoutYou is Tooth & Nail Records’ greatest unknown treasure. While the Ace Troubleshooters, Lucerin Blues, and Too Bad Eugenes have come and gone, mewithoutYou continues to push ahead, releasing blistering albums while other bands get the glory.

Their last album, Catch For Us The Foxes, is one that I still have in regular rotation, and no matter how many times I listen to it, the combination of Aaron Weiss’ passionate vocals and poetic imagery, and the band’s chaotic, “this close to coming apart at the seams” brand of punk rock is always invigorating and exciting. No doubt my contortions while listening to songs such as “The Soviet” and “My Exit, Unfair” have concerned numerous co-workers.

But Catch For Us The Foxes is soooo 2004. The quintet has finished up their third full-length, Brother, Sister, which will be released by Tooth & Nail on September 26, 2006. Details are still a little sketchy, but posters on various forums have hinted that Jeremy Enigk (of Sunny Day Real Estate fame) sings on several songs.

Which should perk up the ears of most indie-rock types out there.

Absolute Punk has a shot of the cover art. Which, in keeping with their previous albums, is a lovely little painting decidedly, and blessedly, at odds with most of the artwork that graces T&N’s albums. You can also watch the band performing a new song on the Main Stage of this year’s Cornerstone Festival, replete with harp and crazy dancers in bird suits.

Neither of which surprise me. The band has always incorporated eclectic elements in their music — drum n’ bass rhythms, middle-eastern chants — and if anyone has ever seen the band in concert, then you know that they love to flail and throw themselves about with reckless abandon. Which, frankly, is another reason why I love their music so much. Heck, if I’d been at the festival, you probably would’ve seen my pale butt up there, having something resembling a seizure too.

In other news, mewithoutYou played Cornerstone’s Main Stage?!? I never would have seen that one coming.

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