Canadian Indie rockers Mother Mother release their ninth studio album `Grief Chapter` this month
The album opens with `Nobody Escapes` a chugging offering that refers to the fact that regardless of who you are, politician or animal, nobody escapes death. The vocals are fairly expansive but the last minute or so becomes more reflective and closes out on a jazzy kind of vibe. There was a fairly edgy texture to `To My Heart` initially before it became more pop tinged. A song that vocalist Ryan Guldemond has shared that the phrase ‘going back to my heart’ means I’m going to make the effort to transcend the fiction of my toxic mind and return to a more feeling-based approach to living.
`Explode!` would appear to be a bleakly humorous tale of somebody who is not only obsessed with love but so uptight that they`ll only relax and let go when they die and as they are coiled so forcefully they`ll probably shatter. A brief pop tinged number with some delightful vocal interplay and crashing guitar riffs. A strummed guitar leads us into `Head Shrink` a tale of a visit to a psychotherapist which builds into a climax lyrically, volubly, and musically as it evolves.
`Days` is Bango led and a real foot tapper that speaks about how anxiety and worry envelopes somebody occasionally and how they feel it`ll stay with them until they expire but do their best to fight against it. There`s a delightful vulnerability to the vocals shared by Molly Guldemond on `Forever`. The song may well be about seeking that fundamental answer to life, the universe and everything posed by Douglas Adams. It is an overwhelming beautiful composition with a wonderfully stripped back segment at the end.
`Normalize` is about what society perceives as normal and was a number that reminded me so much of the art rock duo Sparks and their inciteful wit and musical dexterity. The conclusion seemed to be that being `not normal` is normal. We enjoy another brief ditty with `Goddam Staying Power` sung again by Molly with children`s voices in the background. A number expressing the dual emotions of happy and sad.
`The Matrix` is a song about living life on your own terms and not set by organised religions set over a fairly powerful synth laden aural accompaniment at times with lyrics that seem almost rapped throughout. A rhythmic beat guides us through `God`s Plan` whose lyrics are pretty all encompassing and kind of say that if there is a plan it`s whatever you feel it is.
`End of Me` is a satirical slant on imaging your own funeral and all that entails. It has a fast paced and slightly edgy, anxious racing supporting soundtrack. This release closes out on title track `Grief Chapter` and it`s a stripped back introspective musing with a strummed acoustic guitar and vocals. A kind of `Death Is Not the End` for a modern generation.
`Grief Chapter`, an album that is principally about death could have been fairly depressing and melancholic but in Mother Mother`s hands it`s almost life affirming with some delightfully ironic lyrics and melodic foot tapping and thumping tunes. This latest opus had the quintet of Ryan Guldemond (guitar, vocals), Molly Guldemond (vocals, synthesizer), Jasmin Parkin (keyboard, vocals), Mike Young (bass) and Ali Siadat (drums) along with the additional accompaniment of Elisa Thorn (harp) and Jerry Cook (saxophone) bring this eulogy to life.
For me it was an album that boldly says “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”
Rating 8.5/10
