After a productive stint on the Tooth & Nail label, mewithoutYou goes independent with the sonically complex and lyrically dazzling Ten Stories. The Philadelphia-based quartet gives free reign to its expansive instincts while recounting an intricate tale of circus animals on the loose after a train wreck. This unlikely premise lets lead singer Aaron Weiss and his comrades explore their anthropomorphic characters in hallucinatory detail while fusing folk, hardcore, and prog-rock elements into a quirkily compelling whole. Though the band has offered such fable-like material before, Ten Stories displays greater depth and gravity. Christian themes of free will, justice, and obligation run through tracks like Elephant in the Dock,Aubergine, and Bear's Vision of St. Agnes. The dense, dark narrative East Enders Wives invites comparisons with the poetry of Edward Arlington Robinson. Musically, the songs revel in time shifts and tempo changes. Weiss whispers and wails his vocals like a man possessed, from the thrash balladry of Grist for the Malady Mill to the soca-like lilt of Cardiff Giant and the brass-inflected rock of Fiji Mermaid. - iTunes
