Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy EP (2006)After being hired as the Sony College Rep for Phoenix, I was sent home with a goodie bag of all of the artists the department had been working recently. I had a ton of music to choose from, however ended up going to the Mew EP first, for one specific reason.
When I interviewed, they asked me a bunch of questions, obviously about the job and my knowledge of Phoenix music. But because it is such a fan-based position, they of course asked me my favorite band. When I answered "Jimmy Eat World", my future boss said, "oh, that's cool, except they suck." Obviously, most people would be offended by something like that, however I felt refreshed that I was in the company of people who gave honest opinions on music and cared enough about music to give those honest opinions. However, I also defended JEW to the death, and it's still a joke to this day between he and I. How awesome to have constructive conversation about music!
In pulling together this package, that boss specifically held up this EP and said "dude, you HAVE to listen to this. It's probably my favorite record of the year." This of course struck me as high praise from such an opinionated music guy and I was dying to hear something that he deemed totally awesome. I took it home and put it on my iPod, making it the soundtrack to my morning commute from downtown but really not letting it sink it right away. I don't remember when it was, but I remember walking in the morning and hearing "Am I Wry? No" on my shuffle and having a "holy cow, this song is so awesome!" epiphany, as happens a lot with me and bands that take a few listens to get into. I immediately put on the full EP and played it on repeat for several weeks after. The songs were quirky and progressive, yet poppy and catchy in a way. I was nothing short of obsessed.
I loved being able to champion this band, telling several of my friends about them and even pulling out my iPod and forcing them to listen. They were the coolest of cool bands, hosting an insane amount of instrumentation and a dreamy lead singer. I saw them play that summer at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn and was completely blown away by their drummer. Since then, I've only seen them play one other time, just a few months ago, and it was an all-encompassing experience. So much noise and so much going on on stage, I felt tired after it because I was so invested. That's a great feeling.
They released the full length And the Glass Handed Kites soon after and No More Stories . . . in 2009. Their critical acclaim is unmatched, coming from all the super hip Jimmy Eat World bashing bloggers and writers :) They continue to exist on this level of cool because they deserve it and have made some really intricate and involved music.
Far and away my favorite Mew song, and only featured on this EP:
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