28

Jun

by eldavojohn

Album Cover for O My Heart by Mother Mother

Album Cover for O My Heart by Mother Mother

Mother Mother is a brother & sister from Quadra Island near Vancouver in Canada. O My Heart is their sophomore album and lives up to the Their vocals are some of the most unique and delicious harmonies I’ve heard in quite some time. Try out a clip from the opening and title track from this album:

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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:

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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.

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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”

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

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

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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.

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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:

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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:

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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.

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