MewithoutYou would give you directions to the closest independent store if they knew you would go buy their album there, so it’s a bit ironic that I found out about Ten Stories while looking for new music on a popular streaming service (which shall not be mentioned). Yes, I do struggle with the fact since I’m working in the seemingly care-free industry, but hey, now their music will be shared with everyone that reads this article. However, I think mewithoutYou would rather have people listen to their music through any means, than not hear it at all. Now is the most important time, as Ten Stories has been crowned the rightful follow-up to their 2006 release, Brother/Sister, and 2004’s Catch for Us the Foxes. The difference between their past albums and Ten Stories is that this one was released independently. See how it came together and hear their thoughts on the new record by checking out their official EPK.
It seems to be a common theme these days; bands choosing to leave record labels, instead of resigning with them. It’s almost a bit disastrous for some of these companies, but I believe that it’s shaping music into what it was before… true art. MewithoutYou’s latest project, which was just released May 15, 2012, allows the listener to experience so much more than 11 songs. Ten Stories can be purchased as a deluxe box set that includes over a dozen original paintings, custom sleeves, etchings, and bonus songs. Even if a fan decides to purchase a digital download, it’s hard to avoid the intricate detail in the album art. The band has been creating significant albums like this since they started over a decade ago, but their creativity now is better than ever. Just listen to vocalist Aaron Weiss describe the inspiration for the lyrics of the album, and you’ll see why.
“They’re not quite children’s songs,” vocalist Aaron Weiss explains, “with not quite coherent storylines, but there is an overarching and kind of child-like narrative: a circus train crashes in 19th century Montana. Some animals escape, others stay in their cages. The traveling menagerie re-rails, stays its course, and struggles to fill in the missing attractions. Meanwhile, freed from institutionalized life, the rice-cake rabbit takes to a peripatetic fortune teller, the monastic walrus is tempted by a hedonistic owl, a fish falls for an eggplant. Other songs describe a contemplative Fox’s prophetic dream, a starving Bear’s vision of a martyred saint, and an indecisive Peacock & gnostic Tiger learning the virtues of megalomania from an ego-annihilated Potter Wasp.”
Mind blown. When you hear his “manic, unorthodox hollering” combined with the intricacies of these stories over the band’s solid groove and extraordinary sense of melody, you’ll get it. Ten Stories has even been dubbed “the best Hayley Williams (of Paramore)-approved circus-train concept album.” Have a listen to the first track on the record, “February, 1878.”
If you like what you hear, find out more about how you can get Ten Stories by visiting their website at mewithoutyou.com, or click on the incredible album art below. Support these guys, enjoy this record, and remember to listen to more music!
By Steve Harpine | Nashville Ambassador | @Steve_MWL | Beat-Play & Music Without Labels, LLC
