I find almost nothing more exciting than
hearing a great new band for the first time.
In this case, not a “new” band, but new to me,
and my discovery was a completely random
internet find of a live studio performance of
Mother Mother on a YouTube channel from
Musora. The band played a song called
“Make Believe,” a song and a performance
by which I was completely captivated.
How did I not know about Mother Mother,
a band together now since 2005? I think
immediately after watching that video
I called my neighborhood record shop
to ask them if they could order the album
Nostalgia for me. To my great astonishment,
they already had the album in stock.
Apparently, I was late to the party.
How to describe Mother Mother.
Take Faith No More, The Monkees,
XTC, The New Pornographers, Ween,
St. Vincent, OK Go, put them all in
a box and shake. They are nutty,
extremely skilled, progressive,
highly energetic, tight, volatile,
surprisingly versatile and melodic.
They can be guitar heavy or synth
or piano driven, sometimes within
the same song, and they can be quiet
and contemplative or silly and nasty.
Led by brother and sister Ryan and
Molly Guldemond, who trade lead
vocals back and forth seamlessly
with their bandmate Jasmin Parkin,
they are perhaps one of the most
vocally interesting bands I’ve heard
in a long time. The drum and bass
grooves are precise and percolating.
The arrangements are dense and
sophisticated. I don’t know. I can’t stop
gushing. Last night, out of
curiosity, I thought I’d go all the
way back to their beginning and
stream the sophomore album on
TIDAL (the debut unavailable)
circa 2007. I got through the first
three songs and stopped myself,
saving the rest until I can get up
to my neighborhood record store
and pick up the just released
(a little early) 20th anniversary
edition of Touch Up. Oh Canada.
I’ve got some catching up to do!
Notes on the vinyl edition: Nostalgia, Parlophone Records, 2025, baby blue translucent vinyl.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
michael jarmer 