If you start listening to “About America” – the lead track on “Mother”, you could think of it as something that came on a lovely warm breeze. All acoustics and gorgeous harmonies. To be fair, that’s a decent summation of The Wandering Hearts.
They’ve always been a fabulous band. One with a real depth to their work. The blues tinges of “Still Waters” are your first signpost to that here. “It’s so hard to focus when I feel like this” offers its hook, and there’s a real confusion. One that it seems that music will fix.
The trio, Tara Wilcox [vocals], A.J. Dean [vocals, acoustic guitar] and Francesca ‘Chess’ Whiffin [vocals, mandolin], seem to have a chemistry. A sixth sense, if you will. It’s all over the record, and especially on the gorgeous “Tired”, where the multi-part harmonies shine like gold.
And “gold” is a word that I’ve used deliberately, given that in some bygone age this goes that colour. They appear on the Old Grey Whistle Test and sell millions. The beautiful, yet plaintive “Letter To Myself” looks back on the things that you’d have changed.
They have changed too. Tara was pregnant at the start of making the record, Chess by the end, and parenthood imbues the whole record. The changing perspective perhaps is best shown by the simmering anger on “Hold Your Tongue”.
“Waiting” changes the dynamic by getting AJ on lead vocals, and its pay-off line “Guess love is not enough to make you change” adds some real sorrow, a fact the subtle fiddle only augments.
Given the wonderful voices, it’s tempting to forget the musicianship here, yet The Wandering Hearts – a little like Ward Thomas – always seem to find the right tone. The piano on “Dance Again” is so well done for example, as is the darker-sounding “Not Misunderstood”. A.J’s vocals in particular here are the most strident on the album.
Mostly, though, it’s about the way they mix. Like on “River To Cry” , but its also about something else: the way they let the songs breathe. For example, “…Cry” is over five minutes long, but its follow up “Will You Love Me” is less than three. A simple piano ballad, it underlines the fact there is no set “plan” here. More just a desire to give the song what it needs.
And the last one, “What Fools Believe” and its desire for the troubadour lifestyle means I can’t avoid it anymore. So lets just say it: Laurel Canyon.
This is a record that seems to belong in the late 60s, early 70s, when Joni Mitchell and Mamas And Papas, Gram Parsons and all the rest were making music. Indeed, you can imagine if you wanted that these were all made then and resurrected, a bit like Billy Bragg and Wilco did with the old Woody Guthrie songs.
Yet, they’re not, obviously. It’s just the songs on “Mother” are so incredibly timeless that your mind wanders.
The Wandering Hearts have always been this good. As far back is 2017 I reviewed their first EP and wrote: “The band have drawn comparisons to early Fleetwood Mac, and whilst its easy to see why, there are elements of the wonderful Wild Ponies here too, while “Never Expected This” has the taste of southern rock about it, a sort of Allman Brothers vibe permeates throughout, and the male lead and female harmonies switch the plot magnificently.”
It’s just that with seven years’ experience and maturity they’ve got even better. “Mother” sees them give birth to the best thing they’ve ever done.
Rating 9/10
