Album Cover for O My Heart by Mother Mother

Every track not only catchy but is usually layered vocally to make it interesting to listen to over and over. Mother Mother uses everything from heavy electric guitars to muted trumpets, strings and synths to provide a wide range of music in this twelve track album. While the title track is heavy, the second track hits you with trumpet and, yes, a clarinet:

Very rarely does an album strike me as thoroughly enjoyable all the way through. O My Heart manages to strike down the common practice of phoning in the rest of the album after the titular opening track has won airplay and your fans’ hearts.

Some of these tracks are indeed more interesting and stick in my head longer than the title track. “Wisdom” is probably my favorite track off this album due mostly to the several different pieces of it. Once it gets up and running though, it’s a great track with lyrics like “I wanna trade my dim wits in for tips, tips equipped with Wisdom”

The song “Ghosting” is a bitter sweet track that has soft and mellow guitar work:

And is immediately followed by “Hay Loft” which ratchets the album back up to intense vocals and heavy guitars:

The phrasing of the lyrics and the influence the vocals have on the rhythm ensure that some of these tracks never get old. “Wrecking Ball” has a beautiful piece in the center that acts as a sort of bridge or turn around where the vocals are dominating as the rhythm in the tune and drums/bass — that normally carry the rhythm — are actually on the offbeats and syncopating with the vocals.

It’s not that you haven’t heard this before I just like that the beat sounds more complex even though you may be in standard time like the next track:

The final track attempts to show that they can write guitar solos just as well as vocal harmonies but, for me at least, the beauty in their music is the vocals. Even on the grand chorus looping fade out, it’s the voices and how they front the instruments behind them that make this album worth it. Even with slow chord changes, I love the sound that defines Mother Mother:

Release Date: September 16, 2008
Rating: 10/10

Sorry to include so many clips but this album is full of great tracks and I hope you pick it up and enjoy it as much as I have for the past several months. Their debut album Touch Up is also worth picking up although not as catchy and refined, it still beats a lot of the stuff out there.

Album Cover for Cars by Now, Now Every Children

That is from the opening track where the song slowly builds and builds until the explosion of guitars and drums that you hear. The vocals remain relatively laid back despite the strange contrast they have with the crashing drums and guitar. Where a normal rock song would have top of the lungs screaming vocals at this point, the lyrics of Dalager are tepid and eerie. It’s both welcomed and refreshing to what you find on the radio although a few other tracks rely on slowly building up to a great riff or explosion of sound. That’s not all that’s on the album, a lot of the songs are soft pieces almost like ballads with long backing tones. For example, listen to a piece of the third track “Have You Tried”:

This track’s use of an organ in the background and beating drums are perfect for Dalager’s vocals and is one of the many tracks I found myself humming after listening to this album over and over and over. The use of organ, bells and piano on this album really make it enjoyable and — in my mind — give it a lot of staying power in my rotation. Here is a clip of just instrumentals from the fifth track “Friends with My Sister”:

It’s not often that I find myself so in love with listening to an entire album of songs that I can listen to it through and through. Now, Now Every Children’s Cars is a great album that I would recommend to anyone that likes laid back music like Snow Patrol or Fiest. Now, Now Every Children has definitely established a particular sound that is great and leaves me wanting more and I cannot wait to hear new albums and work from them. Hopefully they begin to experiment more with other instruments and moods to Dalager’s vocals. You’re not going to hear any poppy happy songs on this album but what you will find is upbeat songs like “Everyone You Know” interlaced with tracks of great crescendos and melodies that will leave you humming for weeks.

Release Date: February 10, 2009
Rating: 8/10

You can listen to three full tracks and purchase the album from Afternoon Records for $12 as a CD or $9 in MP3 format from Amazon. The best part about it? It’s independent music from Afternoon Records.