Is every member of mewithoutYou of the Christian faith? Beats me. I know that the lyrics portray the group as a Christian band, but said term manifests nothing of the actual music. So what does Christian music sound like? Jesus harmoniously praying to his Father? Dead Poetic? Christmas carols? Fuck, man. I don't know.
mewithoutYou's music has always attracted me and I'm not a Christian. Blasphemy? No. The band's songs almost certainly don't have the same meanings to me as compared to a Christian listener with Biblical knowledge and faith in God, but I'm still allured to the tunes. [A->B] Life and Catch for Us the Foxes contain Biblical imagery and reference Christian ideas, but Brother, Sister is definitely a step up on the "Christ-o-Meter" lyric-wise. Maybe it's not even a step up - perhaps the mentions are less subtle and I missed the majority of them due to my ignorance. Blasphemy? Yeah, probably.
Brother, Sister opens with restrained keyboard notes and the sound of falling rain. Then, with humbleness, the words "'I do not exist, we faithfully insist" commence the album lyrically. The modesty of Aaron Weiss' voice blends with explosive and emotional delivery at certain points throughout each song, exposing the listener to the complete vocal spectrum. If you've listened to mewithoutYou's other releases, you know how vocally diverse this band can be. If you haven't listened to the aforementioned albums, expect yelling, spoken word, and unique singing styles.
After listening to two mewithoutYou albums, it's safe to say that the lyrics maintain a very poetic status. Weiss holds a degree in English from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Not that this should aid him in fronting a musical group, but his writing demonstrates experience.
During my first listen, songs reminiscent of their earlier work, "Wolf Am I! (and Shadow)," "A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains," and, naturally, "Nice and Blue (Part Two)" stood out with a classic sound that mewithoutYou have defined for themselves. Three separate tracks, entitled "Yellow Spider," "Orange Spider," and "Brownish Spider," appear on Brother, Sister's tracklisting. Each song has different lyrics with variation in music, but the words "[insert color here] spider, [insert color here] leaf... confirms my deepest held belief" are heard on all three. The songs give unity to the album, but I found myself skipping over them after a few listens - call me uncultured - because of their rather slow collective pace.
Brother, Sister does not rank among [A->B] Life and Catch for Us the Foxes, but it shows the changes that most bands make as they age. These changes win listeners and lose fans, but they must be made as no one wants to buy a carbon copy of an album that they already have.
