Frengers
Frengers, alternatively titled as Frengers: Not Quite Friends, But Not Quite Strangers, is the third album by Danish band Mew, originally released on 7 April 2003. The title is a portmanteau of the words "friend" and "stranger". A frenger is a person who is "not quite a friend but not quite a stranger" according to the album's accompanying booklet.
Frengers | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 7 April 2003 | |||
Recorded | September 2001–November 2002 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 48:43 | |||
Label | Sony | |||
Producer | Rich Costey | |||
Mew chronology | ||||
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Singles from Frengers | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
BBC | 8/10[3] |
Drowned in Sound | 8/10[4] |
Gaffa | [5] |
PopMatters | favorable[1] |
Sputnikmusic | 5/5[6] |
Stylus Magazine | B+[7] |
Uncut | 8/10[8] |
Six of the album's ten tracks were previously included on Mew's first two albums A Triumph for Man and Half the World Is Watching Me, both of which saw only limited release until they were subsequently rereleased internationally, but were rerecorded for Frengers. The other four are original recordings. The song "Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years" features vocals from Swedish singer Stina Nordenstam and "Symmetry" features vocals from 14-year-old Becky Jarrett from Georgia, US. The Japanese version of Frengers also includes the re-recordings of two more earlier songs, "I Should Have Been a Tsin-Tsi (For You)" and "Wherever".
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Am I Wry? No" | 4:54 |
2. | "156" | 4:55 |
3. | "Snow Brigade" | 4:22 |
4. | "Symmetry" | 5:39 |
5. | "Behind the Drapes" | 3:40 |
6. | "Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years" | 2:48 |
7. | "Eight Flew Over, One Was Destroyed" | 4:48 |
8. | "She Came Home for Christmas" | 3:55 |
9. | "She Spider" | 4:44 |
10. | "Comforting Sounds" | 8:53 |
Total length: | 48:43 |
Japanese edition bonus tracks
No. | Title | Length |
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11. | "I Should Have Been a Tsin-Tsi (For You)" | 1:57 |
12. | "Wherever" | 4:22 |
Total length: | 55:02 |
Personnel
Mew
- Jonas Bjerre – electric guitars, acoustic guitar, piano, harmonium, mellotron, synthesizers, vocals
- Bo Madsen – electric guitars, acoustic guitar
- Johan Wohlert – bass, guitars
- Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen – drums, percussion
Additional personnel
- Tobias Wilner Bertram - turntables on tracks 6, 8
- Rich Costey - ride cymbal on track 6
- Klaus Nielsen - piano on track 6
- Bo Rande - trumpet on track 10
- Damon Tutunjian - additional vocals on track 2, additional guitars on track 9
- Patrick Warren - piano on tracks 1, 8
- Nick Watts - piano on tracks 4, 10, synthesizers on tracks 9, 10
- George Marino - mastering
- Stefan Ruiz - photography
- Flemming Rasmussen, Troels Alsted, Andreas Hviid, Dan Lefler, Darren Mora and Fred Archanbault - additional engineering
Singles
Year | Title | UK Singles Chart |
---|---|---|
2003 | Comforting Sounds | 48 |
Am I Wry? No [b] | 47 | |
She Came Home for Christmas [a] | 55 | |
156 | – | |
References
- Williams, Richard T. (29 April 2004). "Mew: Frengers". PopMatters. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- O'Brien, Jon. Frengers. AllMusic. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- "BBC - Manchester Music - Mew - Frengers". www.bbc.co.uk:80. Archived from the original on 23 April 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- Adams, Sean. Mew - Frengers Archived 2021-06-20 at the Wayback Machine. Drowned in Sound. 2 April 2003. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- "Mew: Frengers". Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
- "Mew - Frengers (Album review 3) | Sputnikmusic".
- "Stylus Magazine". Archived from the original on 2008-08-20.
- Mew - Frengers Uncut. 1 September 2003. Retrieved 12 Mar 2022.