Mew The Zookeeper’s Boy EP

[Red Ink/Columbia; 2006]

Rating: 1.5/5

Styles: chamber pop, space rock
Others: Mercury Rev, Snow Patrol, Pet Shop Boys, Coldplay, Sigur Rós

"It ain't got nothing to do with believin' in God, Mr. Cash. It has to do with believin' in yourself.” Sam Phillips, from Walk The Line

This is one of the lamest EPs I've heard in a while. By no means does this infer that The Zookeeper's Boy EP is bad, per say. This Danish quartet of schoolyard chums know how to play their instruments. That's not the problem. I think the question they're missing is why. The production is clean, their playing is tight, they've got interesting albeit radio-friendly changes, but to what end? Everything awash in humming keyboard filters, the whole thing sounds like a top 40 band (pick one, they're all the same) trying to bring The Flaming Lips/Mercury Rev to an MTV audience. They come off sounding bored, and if they don't believe in what they're playing, I don't know how anyone else could. Sigur Rós they ain't. Perhaps the optimistic dispassion of it all is just too ironic for my taste.

1. Apocalypso
2. Special
3. The Zookeeper's Boy
4. Am I Wry? No
5. Comforting Sounds

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