mewithoutYou celebrate 15 year legacy with sixth studio album Pale Horses

The album’s artwork by Russian painter Vasily Kafanov is interestingly reminiscent of Richard Hamilton’s illustrations of James Joyce’s modernist Magnus Opus Ulysses. Indeed, in a recent interview with MySpace, vocalist Aaron Weiss said that he found Joyce’s writing style “liberating”, and it’s not difficult to see his influence in Weiss’ lyrical style in Pale Horses, from the literary and religious allusions throughout, or the way Weiss’s collates concrete but seemingly disparate imagery to create a whole narrative in tracks such as “D-Minor”, for example.

In the same interview, Weiss commented on his focus on vocal melody, which has previously come second to lyrical content. Admittedly, this difference is subtle – Weiss’ almost spoken word style certainly remains - but certainly his vocal lines throughout Pale Horses are diverse, switching from soft whispers to raging shouts, as in the closing moments of album finisher “Rainbow Signs”.

A highlight however is “Lilac Queen”, where the croon “I’ll be long, long gone” follows the backing melody and cascades slowly and beautifully. For the moment though, Pale Horses stands as a testament that it will be a good while before brothers Weiss and co. are long gone.