Watching Mew hit the stage at Vfest, my first thoughts were “how could such a small, unassuming band be capable of such tremendous power?”
Then it hit me, it’s 2:30 pm, there is nary a stage setting and a sparse crowd of 100 odd concert-goers dotted the pit with a handful more seated elsewhere in the gray-clouded ampitheater. A bit tragic for a band capable of so much, who have been touring with el Patron, Trent Reznor, for a good part of 2009.
Taking the best elements of dreampop bands such as Air, Sigur Ross, and Spiritualized, Mew blends catchy pop hooks with moving, emphatic melodies that could be labeled as transcendental even. The chords hit my soul and I was soon gazing down upon the stage from my minds eye, 30 feet above the ground, doing my damndest to imagine the angelic chorus of child-like angels that were playing the supporting vocals. Lead singer’s Jonas Bjerre’s high pitched vocals lead the way for other bands like Passion Pit, while other vocal filters recall the robotic mystery of the most cutting edge Ladytron productions.
As the band strummed a final power chord, the stage was quickly overwhelmed by a horde of black clad demons/roadies, signaling the end of this short, yet phenomenal, set.
Website: www.mewsite.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/mew
