Albums of the decade #6 – Mew – Frengers (2003)

Not very well known, this wonderful band hail from Denmark, and this, their debut album, it outstanding.  From the opening crashes of ‘Am I Wry? No’ to the sweeping epicness of ‘Comforting Sounds’, this album is full of marvellous musicianship and song-crafting.  The drumming in particular is incredible.  Lyrically, they move from a quirky love song to a song by a stalker to a song about drugs to a ballad, and that’s before they even reach the bizarre ‘Eight flew over, one was destroyed’ and the beautiful but chilling ‘She came home for Christmas’.  ‘Am I Wry? No’ and ‘156’ are battling it out for the right to be a contender for greatest song ever, but Frengers is by no means limited to these two.