Album Review: Mother Mother - 'Grief Chapter'
Following from the fun and successful Inside released in 2021, Canadian indie rockers Mother Mother are back with a new helping of their personalised sounds. Presenting their latest record Grief Chapter, the group first teased new material in 2023 with a string of single releases such as ‘Normalize’ and ‘The Matrix’. However, the album begins with their latest single: the upbeat sounding and downtrodden sang ‘Nobody Escapes’.
One of the shorter tracks on the record, ‘Nobody Escapes’ is a sad reality set to a catchy instrumental. Prettying up the truth that in a ruthless world, nobody is free and nobody is given justice, no matter who they are or how they look. Claiming even the living beings that should be given freedom, such as “the innocent” and “the animals”, will not be spared when the time comes, it opens the record with a hard-hitting reminder that society is declining. Those with power will never discriminate who their actions affect. Nobody is free, and nobody can escape.
The track flows smoothly into the successor, ‘To My Heart’. A more folk-like tune, the lyrics see frontman Ryan Guldemond confessing that going back “to my heart” means exposing all that is evil and wicked hidden inside and letting it all run free. A recognition of pain and sorrows, the religious themes are played up with a chorus of harmonious vocals which raise the hopes in such a deceiving way. But maybe the only way to reach the heavens is to unveil one’s own sins and darkness. This is a cleansing in the process and it’s so soulfully translated into a musical font for everyone to hear and learn.
Midway through the album is lead single ‘Normalize’, one of the tracks that teeter closer to the rock side than the indie edge. With a chanting anthemic chorus, repeating the words, “When I die, unalive”, it’s an ode to turning away from the mainstream and embracing the pejorative sides of one’s own personality. An alternative that is seen to be unlikable, unrelatable, or just out of the ordinary. The slightly heavier turn is both an expression of pride and fear: “it’s abnormal to be normal”, Guldemond sings in a near whisper tone, but the emotions are conflicting. Being normal is not the norm, but not being normal does not always work in this messed-up world - there is no one answer, there is no straightforward way to win life. All anyone can do is just be themselves and prepare for the good, the bad and the ugly.
The band left the title track as their last but not least. Sending the listener on an audible journey, with only soft vocals and strums of a guitar telling the story. A story of the passing of time bringing a new air to one’s life: the past is gone, the present is coming so fast, and the future might open up the doors and windows and shine new light upon dark and dreary places. Closing one chapter, opening another, and waiting to see what the ending comes to.
Grief Chapter is a story about hope and hopelessness. Moving past the worst in life and trying to find something new and exciting to motivate one to keep going and keep living. Mother Mother as a musical collective have always conveyed the deepest and most fragile emotions through their combined vocal harmonies and their unique styles from one track to the other, and Grief Chapter is just another example of how they use their talents together to bring out the innermost of their souls and their philosophies.
Take one page of life at a time and breathe in every word, every image, every sound. It’s time to close the chapter of the past, and get ready for the unknown work of the future.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
