THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Mother Mother’s 10th album Nostalgia is a record built and buoyed on feelings. It is also nothing short of a milestone — the band, comprised of Ryan Guldemond (vocals, guitar), Molly Guldemond (vocals, synths), Jasmin Parkin (vocals, keys), Ali Siadat (drums) and Mike Young (bass), are celebrating 20 years together. Not that you would know from the music.
“In creating Nostalgia, our goal was to embody a childlike creativity which often becomes elusive as we age and gather too many tricks,” Ryan says, noting the importance of their emotional cohesion for this album-making process. “We evaluated every creative choice by its emotional impact — whether that was a lyric, a reverb trail or an EQ curve. If something didn’t evoke a strong emotional reaction — we let it go. This approach led to work we genuinely love and take pride in.”
True to form, Nostalgia is a standout entry in a discography filled with standout entries. It fosters both the spirit of creativity and total originality Mother Mother fans have come to know and love about the band, while also pushing the band’s musicality, lyricism, and aesthetics to new peaks. It’s heartfelt and dark, funneling and fractaling themes of alienation, existentialism, self-love and self-hate, gender roles, and spirituality through the vibrant imagery of otherworldly landscapes and mythical creatures. Designed by the band’s resident creative director Molly, the album cover’s unicorn is both thematic mascot and defining visual. “This also marks the first time since 2011’s Eureka that an animal is featured on a cover, symbolizing a return to our roots, not just musically, but aesthetically,” Ryan notes.
Nostalgia delivers a creative palate as simultaneously expansive and cohesive as Mother Mother has ever offered. “This record offers more while having less — it breathes with big dynamics and moves away from the over compressed, modern wall-of-sound approach,” Ryan explains. “In terms of genre, it’s an indie record.” Fans new and old alike will find on-ramps galore, from long-percolating tracks like album opener Love to Death, first demoed during 2008’s O My Heart sessions, a live version of which has been traded online for a decade now; On And On (Song for Jasmin), a real and genuine ode to a bandmate that reads like a platonic love letter; Little Mistake, which drummer Siadat encouraged the band to dust off after sitting unfinished on a shelf for years; and lead single Make Believe, a sonic and lyrical acid-tripping roller-coaster ride through fantasy and imagination. “I indulged a bit in my own life-philosophy on this track — magical thinking, interconnection, cosmic gallivanting,” says Ryan. “You know, hippie stuff.”
Later, Finger takes a gleeful dive into society’s double standards, holding a mirror up to inconsistencies in shame and sensuality on what Ryan calls “classic, brazen Mother Mother, while somehow also being the most modern track on the record.” It’s followed by Me & You, the first song Ryan wrote on a new baritone acoustic guitar he’d bought during the recording process “with a jangly, detuned sound” — it’s both timeless and urgent in equal breaths. “People say, there’s a new song hiding in every new instrument you pick up. It’s true,” Ryan confirms.
In creating a 10th album, Mother Mother have achieved something few acts get the chance to: Freedom in creativity, resulting in a record that feels both true to their legacy and gesturing towards the next two decades ahead. “As a band, it often becomes clear in retrospect that the best songs and albums are those that were unfettered by the pursuit of following trends,” Ryan says. “This is why an artist’s earlier work often feels more genuine: because it simply is.” And that’s why Nostalgia, reflecting Mother Mother’s past and refracting their legacy, simply is one of their most genuinely powerful and exciting artistic statements yet.”
