2.5/5 stars Mother Mother’s recently released album, Eureka, sounds like a bid for mainstream success. The Vancouver based band has always had a sound that is firmly rooted in pop music, and their ability to create infectious and catchy melodies through spastic tempo changes, strange and simple metaphorical lyrics, and a refusal to be loyal to a single musical genre are what have made them one of the most interesting up and coming bands.
The current album still contains many of the characteristics that define Mother Mother, such as their unique three part harmonies, but the band has moved in the direction of a traditional rock sound. This isn’t to say that Eureka is a terrible album, but Eureka is definitely a less interesting effort than their previous creations.
The first single, The Stand, is a deliciously misanthropic call and response song that seems to represent lead singer, lyricist, and band-leader Ryan Guldemond's absolute distaste for the human race.
“Tell me your fears.”
“Okay, its everyone here.”
“You mean just all of the people?”
“Yeah, and all of their peers.”
The catchy chorus then begins with “I can hardly stand the sight of it all...” Guldemond’s lyrics are consistently more abstract and bizarre than his previous work. In The Stand he sings “I forgot about handfuls,” which within the context of the song is a sexual euphemism, but he sounds so uncertain and confused by his own words that the meaning becomes obscure and ambiguous.
The lyrical quality never reaches the heights that it did in songs like “Ghosting,” but it is only in the absolutely dreadful “Original Spin” that they reach a level of stupidity. A note to future artists: in a post-Rebecca Black world, no matter how ironically you say “fun, fun, fun” it will still sound like self-parody.
Musically, Eureka is Mother Mother’s first rock album. Mother Mother has always shied away from comparisons to other indie acts, such as the New Pornographers, trying to maintain an identity that is separate from the Canadian indie scene. Yet, Eureka seems to embrace the so-called indie rock “sound” for the first time in Mother Mother’s history. Simply Simple has the sound that is currently being used to advertise the hipness of department stores.
The best song on the album is Problems, which seems to entirely ignore the rest of the album that surrounds it. The song begins with a Buddy Holly inspired guitar lick which leads into a bouncing bass led verse. The screeching chorus line, “I’ve got problems, not just ones that are little, its those people problems that’s something to consider, when you come for dinner at my place,” unexpectedly erupts from the song. It is the only song on the album that seems to have its tongue firmly implanted in cheek.
Which is something that Mother Mother should consider, because for the first time they seem to be taking themselves too seriously and the results are often bland and unexciting. It might be a bit cynical to say that Mother Mother is making a bid for mainstream success, but the truth of the matter is that their current musical direction seems to be a dead end. Let’s hope that by the time they release their next album they are feeling more playful and inspired again.
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