MEW play The North Park Theatre Sep. 17,The Observatory Sep. 18 , Fonda Sep. 25
Following their first two opening shows in Southern California, Mew return for a concert at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on Sep. 25.
The Danish rockers released their sixth studio album “+-” in April, nearly six years removed from their previous album.
“+-” features a concoction of distorted guitar riffs, up-tempo beats and dreamy melodies as well as lead singer Jonas Bjerre’s distinct high-pitched vocals. The album also includes the return of bassist Johan Wohlert, who left the band in 2006.
Originally formed in Copenhagen in 1994, Mew released their first album, “A Triumph for Man,” three years later.
“We didn’t know how to play other people’s songs so we kind of had to make up our own. To be honest, in the beginning it was all about having fun together,” Bjerre said. “We were all friends from art school and we had done a little bit of creative stuff before with some weird, pretentious art films and stuff like that.”
Bjerre said the band did something they had never done before with “+-,” record an album and tour simultaneously.
“I kind of regret not doing it before because it was such an eye opening experience,” he said. “I think there is this instant objectivity when you’re playing your songs to a crowd because you just know which parts you’re proud of and ones you’re a little in doubt of. You can just sense it. It is kind of like hearing it through the ears of the audience. So I think those songs that we did play live before finalizing them benefitted a lot from that.”
Popular singer-songwriter Kimbra provided vocals on “The Night Believer” and backing vocals on several other songs on the album. According to Bjerre, the collaboration came about after the New Zealand-born singer reached out to the band via a mutual acquaintance.
“She worked with Rich Costey, who mixed this last album with us and produced two of our previous albums,” Bjerre said. “He kind of asked me for her if I wanted to do one of her songs and I said yes.”
Bjerre, who had only been vaguely familiar with Kimbra’s work prior to the collaboration, said he then offered her the chance to contribute on “+-.”
“She ended up doing a bunch of backing vocals and a kind of duet,” Bjerre said. “I still actually haven’t met her in person.”
The three-week string of concerts across the United States and Canada will be the band’s first headlining tour in North America since the release of their last album in 2009.
While Mew occasionally experiments and improvises with melodies during their live performances, Bjerre said he’d rather stick to how the songs play out in his head.
“I don’t really like it when you go see a band and they change a melody of a song you enjoy because it feels alien,” he said. “We do little breakdowns here and there and we make some songs a bit longer sometimes, but I never feel like we go through the motions. I never stand there and think of shopping lists which I know some people do. It’s not easy enough for me to do. It has to be an outward communication with the audience. The more we enjoy playing, the more the audience enjoys the concert and I really believe that energy translates.”