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Frengers
Studio album by Mew
Released	7 April 2003
Recorded	September 2001–November 2002
Studio	Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark Sun Studio, Copenhagen, Denmark Ridge Farm Studios, Capel, Surrey, England Third Stone Recording, North Hollywood, California, United States Cello Studios, Hollywood, California, United States
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	48:43
Label	Sony
Producer	Rich Costey
Mew chronology
Half the World Is Watching Me (2000) Frengers (2003) And the Glass Handed Kites (2005)
Singles from Frengers
"Comforting Sounds" Released: 24 March 2003 "Am I Wry? No" Released: 16 June 2003 "156" Released: July 2003 (Europe only) "She Came Home for Christmas" / "That Time on the Ledge" Released: 15 December 2003

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
BBC	8/10
Drowned in Sound	8/10
Gaffa
PopMatters	favorable
Sputnikmusic	5/5
Stylus Magazine	B+
Uncut	8/10

Frengers, alternatively titled as Frengers: Not Quite Friends, But Not Quite Strangers, is the third studio album by Danish alternative rock band Mew. It was 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.

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, 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

All tracks are written by Jonas Bjerre, Bo Madsen, Johan Wohlert, and Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen.

Personnel

Mew

• Jonas Bjerre – vocals, guitars, piano, synthesizers
• Bo Madsen – guitars
• Johan Wohlert – bass, guitars
• Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Patrick Warren – piano on tracks 1, 8
• Damon Tutunjian – additional vocals on track 2, additional guitars on track 9
• Becky Jarrett – vocals on track 4
• Nick Watts – piano on tracks 4, 10, synthesizers on tracks 9, 10
• Tobias Wilner Bertram – turntables on tracks 6, 8
• Rich Costey – ride cymbal on track 6
• Klaus Nielsen – piano on track 6
• Stina Nordenstam – vocals on track 6
• Bo Rande – trumpet on track 10

Technical

• Rich Costey – producer
• George Marino – mastering
• Flemming Rasmussen, Troels Alsted, Andreas Hviid, Dan Lefler, Darren Mora and Fred Archanbault – additional engineering

Charts

Weekly charts

References

1. O'Brien, Jon. Frengers. AllMusic. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
2. "BBC - Manchester Music - Mew - Frengers". www.bbc.co.uk:80. Archived from the original on 23 April 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
3. Adams, Sean. Mew - Frengers Archived 2021-06-20 at the Wayback Machine. Drowned in Sound. 2 April 2003. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
4. "Mew: Frengers". Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
5. Williams, Richard T. (29 April 2004). "Mew: Frengers". PopMatters. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
6. "Mew - Frengers (Album review 3) | Sputnikmusic".
7. "Stylus Magazine". Archived from the original on 2008-08-20.
8. Mew - Frengers Uncut. 1 September 2003. Retrieved 12 Mar 2022.
9. "Danishcharts.dk – Mew – Frengers". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
10. "Norwegiancharts.com – Mew – Frengers". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 April 2023.

• 2003 albums
• Mew (band) albums
• Albums produced by Joshua (record producer)
• Albums produced by Rich Costey