I go through a lot of music in a short period of time. I’m always on the hunt for more and different music, from keeping up with what the internet’s listening to on we are hunted to downloading user-made indie rock playlists per month. It’s an addiction; the more I find, the more I need to find. Every once in a while, though, I’ll find a band that’ll just dominate my brain and force everything else out for a while. Previous examples have been Phoenix, Florence and the Machine, Yeasayer, Miike Snow, and more.

This latest obsession has taken me a long time to write about for some reason, but I’ve been listening to this Mew album for the past half year at least, practically non-stop. To be fair, it’s a lot to wrap one’s head around. Hell, the full name of the album itself is 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. In which genre(s) do they dabble, you ask? That’s kind of a hard one.

My brother once said to me that he finds it hard to believe that humans created the music on No More Stories…. And it’s true; the songs on this album are so exquisitely good, it would seem they’d have to be written by one or more machines. The band jokes that they are “the world’s only indie stadium band,” and their sound is certainly that huge, but that doesn’t give them enough credit. Their style is so fresh and different, and honest to god, Mew is probably the only band that’s been around for practically two decades that I can say that about. The complex nature of these songs certainly doesn’t seem like it should lend itself to easy accessibility, but somehow it does. You might love Mew on the first listen, but nowhere near as much as you’re going to once you weave through all the layers of vocals and instrumentation. It’s might take you a while, too; these songs are progressive in that they might switch the timing up on you abruptly, or add a few extra beats to a measure.

Aside from the four interlude type tracks, there are ten unbelievable songs for your ears to benefit from on No More Stories, and there’s really only one that I don’t listen to often (“Cartoons and Macrame Wounds”), and part of that might be because it’s over seven minutes. The album opens with “New Terrain,” which is practically trance translated into an enormous rock song, which bleeds right into “Introducing Palace Players.” This song… is an utter masterpiece. It contains perhaps the best guitar riff I’ve ever heard in my life, and it amazes me every single time I hear it. It has such a raw feel to it that’s so hard to describe until the chorus comes around, when it turns as smooth and flowing as chocolate fountain. “Repeaterbeater” is a short song, one that I initially overlooked, but one that really grew on me. Once I saw the unbelievable music video for that song, though, I never looked back. “Silas the Magic Car” is a gorgeous slow song that washes over you like a wave of bliss, and really lets singer Jonas’ vocals shine. “Hawaii” starts out almost tribally, with some punchy percussion and chanted vocals until the towering ambient chorus blasts in and makes love to all your senses, taste included. “Tricks of the Trade” is a rhythmic, moody electronic-esque piano song that you might hear in a club, if clubs were way more awesome than they are. “Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy” is practically two songs in one, and is by far one of the catchiest songs on the album with a positive vibe to it, and would be a great closer if not for the “Reprise” that is actually the last track.

Each one of these songs is a beast on its own, and each demands a bunch of listens, if not to fully understand the scope, then just because they’re so damn good. It’s hard to describe how masterfully crafted these songs are. There’s no music I’m looking forward to harder than whatever Mew puts out next, and you’d be a damn fool not to look into this perfect collection of songs. Go listen now.