The Shock of the Mew

Five minutes of conversation with Mew guitarist Bo Madsen and some insight is given into why the Danish art rockers (and pretentious ones at that – in their own deadpan words) have exceeded the standard word count for the title of their new album*. Put simply, the guy doesn’t shut up; it wasn’t conversation, more passionate monologue. Taking a lyric from one of the tracks to name a record is hardly a new trick, but it’s a safe bet that Madsen came along and said “Why use just three words, when we can use the whole verse?” It seems to be his way. However, possessed of charm, eloquence and a real passion for what he does, Madsen makes for a dream interviewee; an enjoyable way to spend half an hour.

It’s been almost four years since the release of their last studio album. 2005's And The Glass Handed Kites (and the accompanying, visual-heavy live tour) was critically well-received, but wouldn't it have made sense to capitalise on that positive momentum earlier than now? “Well, we did want to attend to our own personal lives. Growing up and getting a little bit older takes time y’know!” laughs Madsen, before confirming the suspicion that the creation of multi-layered, ambient soundscapes generally involves personalities given to meticulous dedication. “We tend to be quite perfectionistic about things. When you spend a long time writing it you want to spend a long time recording it, just to get things right. The list goes on. Every step is like ‘Well, we spent so much time doing that, we want to make sure we don’t fuck it up by getting it all wrong at this point’. Labels ask for about three or four months because of you guys, the press. They ask that they’re given time to promote it in advance. So the big machine goes into operation and together with the creative process it just all combines into one lethal, somewhat delayed, cocktail.”

Madsen only becomes reticent when discussing the new album, in the sense that talking about it seems to him a pointless exercise. “I don’t think I want to come up with a list saying ‘This is what it means’. We provide a lot of different impressions and layers in our music and people can combine them and make out of them what they want. I think it should be up to each individual listening to and discovering new things. We can’t go around being pissed off when people describe the band in a certain way or try and put it in a box when the thing we’re trying to do is take it out of the box. The way of communicating what this band is can only be done by listening to the music rather than trying to explain with words.”

Naturally, this memo was duly passed to our reviewer. The band are currently touring with Nine Inch Nails, in the past having played with REM and Jane's Addiction. Madsen is emphatic when he suggests it’s preferable to be headlining their own shows, but support slots are a valuable opportunity. “Going out with another band like NIN, Elbow or REM is an odd experience at times but it’s always going to be that way with other bands because I don’t think we fit in with any category. But then, these bands have fans who are interested in challenging themselves a little bit when listening to music. That’s all we need really, people who enjoy experiencing the new.”

So, has anything been challenging the Mew protagonists recently then? “There are a million levels to this. You could be someone like Stanley Kubrick and reinvent the medium every time you make a film, but you can also do it in certain areas by using new techniques which haven’t been used before and break new ground. The really big changers come around very rarely. Someone like Prince, say. He and Kubrick are both immensely popular; doing pop yet breaking ground rules and being very experimental at the same time. That’s what we try to do. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we’ve hit that place yet but we really try to do the same thing.”

Whilst that sounds ambitious, Madsen is realistic to suggest it’s not likely by pointing out the obvious; the best art doesn’t necessarily become the most popular. “A lot of indie bands get dismissed as just that, indie. But they have great pop songs, much better than Britney Spears except they may not be wearing a g-string live. People always want to call it something so I take the piss by saying we’re the world’s only indie stadium band, but we have songs that are way more pop and way more catchy than a lot of mainstream stuff like Madonna.”

Is there any particular reason he’s singled out auld Madge? “Nothing personal, but if you’re Madonna, you can make a record and it will be played anyway, just because it’s Madonna. It doesn’t have to be anything that’s good. People seem to want to hear the same people saying the same thing. It’s kind of a comfort blanket. It feels safe to see Madonna on the cover of a magazine so you can go ‘Oh, I’m still living in the world, Madonna is still here’. I guess maybe it reminds you of all the great blowjobs you got while Spanish Lullaby [or La Isla Bonita maybe] was playing in the background so saying goodbye to her would be like saying goodbye to yourself or something strange like that. I don’t get it. So you keep these people around, but they take up a lot of space, which should be used for great new music, or great new art, or whatever the fuck it is.”

And Prince doesn’t take up the same space? “Well, I stopped listening really after the Lovesexy Tour in 1988. That’s when he climaxed!”