4 out of 5

Producer: J. Robbins

Label: Tooth & Nail Records

Well dang, what a strange trip it’s been.  Did we expect mewithoutYou to end up where they have?  Who knows.  The band has shifted slightly from album to album, shuffling further away from this initial screamy punk template to something more varied and poppy, yet never fully abandoning the edge that comes with lead singer’s Aaron Weiss’s warbling, half-spoken, half-yelled vocals.  Sometimes we complain about these changes in a band, that they lose something, or that they sell out or whatever, but mewithoutYou has remained consistently energetic, and on a consistent level of fame, throughout their release history that you can go back and listen to each one and not get any sense of nostalgia or the music being dated.

A –> B is truly no exception.  It’s perhaps lacking in the wackadoo animal /insect imagery that’s taken over, but Weiss’s obsession with relationships and guilt and the punishing power of God’s love is still in hefty tow, ranging from the sappy to the downright threatening, lyrically, without it ever slapping you in the face of something to be embarrassed to listen to.  This is thanks to that aforementioned  energy the band brings to the table, which throttles you from moment to moment in the songs.

mewithoutYou has worked with some notable producers that have shaped the different eras of their sound – Brad Wood for the rock pop of the albums that followed this, then some Daniel Smith for the more mashy rock that would come later.  Here, all jittery high-hats and restless electronic blips and punky snarl are given a pretty good wash by J.Robbins, though, bless the guy for all he’s contributed to the music world, his production tends to shed edges off the noise – he makes it real busy, but some of the punch gets lost in the mix.  This plus some wandering sequencing on the album keep it from being perfect.  Still, get over the fact that its on Tooth & Nail – this is a quality post-punk album.