It’s six years since Danish prog/art-rockers Mew released their tortuously titled album No More Stories Are Told Today, I’m Sorry They Washed Away // No More Stories, The World Is Grey, I’m Tired, Let’s Wash Away. Their follow up +/- is more succinctly named but sees them continue in their proggy-pop tradition, this time with a cameo from Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack. His appearance on My Complications is a jarring moment on an album that revels in spaced-out moments of ambient, with his riffs – for a moment – disrupting the zen. The most notable part of Mew is the vocal delivery of Jonas Bjerre, who switches between gentle, almost talked vocals and half squeals that aren’t a world away from those of Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars. Unlike that band, Mew don’t quite convert slight self-indulgence into tunes, with several here (Water Slides, Making Friends and Interview the Girls) never really going anywhere. In fairness, that low-slung, laid-back chill-out is Mew’s MO; it’s just that on +/- it is more of a negative than a plus.
