Review Summary: "If I'm not sure that I'm going to say something that's going to help anybody or say anything that's true, then I might as well make it sound pretty." - Aaron Weiss
The way things are heading, Aaron Weiss' humble demeanour is going to be so at odds with his titanic literary vision that he'll write an Odyssey about the travels of his toothbrush to his teeth. In all seriousness, his passion and mastery of the English language have never combined so explosively (both literally and figuratively) as in
Pale Horses. Little things have never seemed so important as when they are seen through Aaron's eyes – every bird crossing the road a symbol of hope, every blade of grass host to some higher power. Even in moments of doubt, when Aaron's tortured scream of "nature had another plan, and failed to run it by me" explodes in "Mexican War Streets", or during his acidic one-on-one with Death on "Blue Hen", even then there is a delicate reverence for every aspect of nature that makes his lyricism so wholly beautiful.
The way the music and lyrics intertwine on
Pale Horses is utterly elegant, more so even than the explosive passion of
Catch For Us the Foxes or the melodic inclinations of
Brother, Sister. Not a note on
Pale Horses feels wasted, with Aaron and his band ebbing out of major and minor as the music requires. Perhaps the best example is "Lilac Queen", with Aaron being placed firmly in the spotlight for the laidback first half until Rickie Mazzotta bursts in with a highly energetic drum pattern and the song mutates into a full-band cacophony. The thematic lynchpins of the album - "Pale Horse", "Dorothy" and "Rainbow Signs" - surprisingly move into a shoegaze-y style which compliments the less literal storytelling in Aaron's writing. The jagged, furious "Mexican War Streets" and "Red Cow" have become quick fan favourites based on their resemblance to
A-->B Life, whilst the utterly beautiful "Magic Lantern Days" is the evolution (and perfection) of the acoustic sound introduced on
It's All Crazy. The grittier lyrics of
Pale Horses create an especially powerful contrast on songs like "Lantern Days" - the song revolves around the shocking image of a H-bomb detonating in space and creating a rainbow.
Conceptually,
Pale Horses seems to deal far more in the grey areas between belief and non-belief, truth and lies, love and hate than any of its predecessors. Aaron claims to have lost some faith in his ability to inspire revelations or epiphanies in his fans – while that may be a shame, it also lends itself to yet another thematic masterpiece as Aaron confronts his ego in increasingly ambiguous ways. Even the album title and recurring colour motif - "Red Cow", "Blue Hen", "Rainbow Signs" - are a reflection of this, as Aaron's fascination with animals as symbols – of our own animalistic impulses? Or just as more pure, unsullied beings than humans? - reaches a new high. "Rainbow Signs" is comprised in the first half of a melodic reprise of "Pale Horse" and in the last minute a reprise of "Dorothy", yet not a single note feels wasted. The devastating coldness of "Dorothy" is replaced in this final minute with one of the most fundamentally warm, glowing moments in mewithoutYou's discography. After an album largely concerned with sin and righteousness and self-confrontation, after a colossal climax describing an apocalypse of biblical proportions and the sun turning to black, Aaron ends the album not on some grand absolution, some vague declaration along the lines of "I do not exist" or "why not be utterly changed into fire?" or even "all circles pre-suppose they'll end where they begin";
rather, a little fragment of a quote from Aaron's own father, a beloved memory. A touching, sentimental, wholly human ending.
"But let's keep that silly punchline between me and you, Little Haroon, and the man in the moon."
