3 out of 5

Label: Run For Cover Records

Produced by: Will Yip

I’ve very much enjoyed reading reviews of, and about, mewithoutYou’s Pale Horses.  The group has had a fascinating journey from hardcore punk through orchestral pop and circling back around to rock-tinged pop, molding / reworking their Tooth & Nail ‘Christian’ label into something truly faith-inspired and not preachy.  Lyricist Aaron Weiss’ fascinatingly weird and dense narratives are willfully dark with dashes of hope, sometimes delivering just straight-up fables about animals and insects, while his fellow bandmates work out these interestingly wandering but memorable meshes of keys and guitars, bass, and drums.  Pale Horses jumps head first into the Biblical Revelations, meaning it’s directly obsessed with the end of the world, and the songs are littered with the usual (and impressive) litany of allusions to texts from various faiths and genres.  Reviewers are smarter at talking bout this than I am, tracking Weiss’ wordy journey toward an oblique oblivion at album’s end, and comparing the topical heft to the comparable open-endedness of releases past.

Fascinating stuff.

Unfortunately, I’m not getting it when I listen to it.

Pale Horses is the first mewithoutYou disc that feels… unremarkable.  There are no direct hooks.  While this might be fitting given the subject matter, it’s an odd listening experience, especially when you’re used to the band’s type of grooves, and sense them nearing the verge of something awesome on any given song, but stopping short.  Pale Horses does seem to embrace the ‘hardcore’ of the group’s starting point moreso than any release since, with nary a shred of the shiny pop that’s been part of their sound for the past several discs, but even this ’embrace’ is half-hearted: as soon as Weiss gets the energy up to yell about something, songs just end.  They drop off.  The only times the group can maintain energy throughout an entire track is when they’re operating in a more laid-back register, such as on the comparatively lighter ‘Magic Lantern Days’ and the lush ‘Birnam Wood,’ both near the end of the disc; holistically, one could judge that it’s hard to get enthused about the world ending, and only once that ending draws near and is accepted – near the conclusion of the disc – can Weiss and crew find the momentum to sustain a full song.  (…Not that I’m claiming that that’s supported lyrically, moreso in how the listening experience could be interpreted.)

Producer Will Yip seems equally confused about what direction to take: guitars are swirling, reminiscent of mwY’s pop days, but there’s a low-end crunch to it, with loud drums and Weiss’ growl forefront when it occurs, supporting the rockier edge.  This lends itself to a very wishy-washy mix (Vince Ratti) that’s not particularly satisfying, only, again, coming together for those two mentioned tracks.

This reads like less than a three star review, but Pale Horses isn’t, by any means, uninteresting.  Or badly performed, or without merits, as most tracks do swing in to moving grooves, albeit temporary ones.  However, the disc is, I’d say, the sole mwY album that, if it were my first, probably wouldn’t make me seek out their other releases.  And so in that regard, yes: the review is bias.  It’s affected by what’s come before.  But for better or worse – just as those other reviews are good reads for how they compare and contrast the disc to the rest of the group’s catalogue – I do think this is one of those listens that requires some context.  That still results in my least favorite album from the band, but an certainly worthwhile and thought-worthy experience nonetheless.