MOTHER MOTHER play the Phoenix March 9, as part of CMW. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Mother Mother found their way into radio rotation with Body Of Years, the biggest single from their last album, and though they’ve made no secret of their continued crossover ambitions, they also thankfully haven’t sanded the edges off their eccentric pop aesthetic.
Like their Vancouver peers the New Pornographers, Mother Mother aim straight for the subconscious, cramming in as many earworms as humanly possible. And yet their unusual compositions avoid sugar ?rot. Beyond their hook-writing, their biggest weapon has always been their three-pronged co-ed vocal interplay, and here they take it to complex Dirty Projectors-like heights.
The entendre-laden call-and-response in The Stand, the classic rock organ solo on Chasing It Down and the Buddy Holly-quoting chipped-and-screwed guitar riff in Problems make Eureka as catchy as it is quirky.
Top track: Problems
