Mother Mother are ready for chaos and abandon

The Manchester music scene possesses both chaos and abandon, and rewards bands that match its energy. Mother Mother understand the assignment.

The Canadian outfit are back in the city, playing O2 Victoria Warehouse on February 18. I caught up with frontman Ryan Guldemond to reflect on their chapters of fame, and how it’s led them to their new album which will release only a couple of days before their Manchester show.

Grief Chapter is a “thematic streamline of death, grief, and mourning,” Guldemond told me. “It was a combination of thinking about death more than usual, and that energy naturally finding its way into the music.” So, somewhat inevitably, going through the motions of “reconciling with life and the ultimate departure” organically governed the storytelling of this album.

Allowing a theme to present itself naturally is important to Mother Mother. “I try not to premeditate what an album’s supposed to be about – or what a song’s supposed to be about,” Ryan declared. “You just show up, and allow something else to take control and present itself.”

Personal experience shapes Mother Mother’s output. Their previous album, Inside, was inspired by literally being inside during COVID. The album takes you through the workings of the emotions and reflections related to pandemic isolation. Mother Mother’s lyricism is raw, honest, and grounded in lived experiences.

Looking further down the road of Mother Mother’s journey, Ryan revealed that it’s not just the lyrics that have changed. “It began small, it began raw and stripped down,” he reminisced. “And over the years it’s grown, it’s gotten more complex and sophisticated in terms of recording techniques and production. The lyrics have gone on a journey – I’ve gone on a journey, you know, I’ve changed a lot in the last 15 years.”

Creation is guided by experience, and Mother Mother’s musical narration follows personal and collective evolutions. Their various sound eras are emblematic of discovering, growing, innovating, and reflecting. “We’ve all just tried to make the best thing we could possibly make in honour of the given chapter we’ve found ourselves in,” he added.

On Grief Chapter, Guldemond was adamant. “We really wanted the band to be bolstered,” he said. “We wanted Ali on drums to really shine, Mike on bass to really come through, all the members to stand out.” Achieving this rested on ensuring the music wasn’t “buried in a lot of production,” which, he declared, can distract from the songs’ sonic purity. “So maybe in that sense it’s a little bit different.”

Guldemond summarised this by saying it’s about “prioritising what makes up the band. I think it’s easy in production to forget about that and chase a sonic aesthetic that can abandon who you are as a band – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing – that can be a very good thing. But we wanted to make an album that sounded like the five people in Mother Mother giving their very best.”

Giving their best is something Mother Mother have always done well. The influx of new fans they received after two of their songs – ‘Hayloft’ and ‘Burning Pile’ – went viral on TikTok in 2020 now sees eight million monthly listeners resonating with, and appreciating, Mother Mother’s devotion to their work.

“We just want to be better. That’s what it has inspired in us,” he revealed. “We don’t think we deserve to be where we are, so we want to at least show up and push ourselves to do our very best to respect the fortunate circumstance we find ourselves in.”

With their next tour on the horizon, Manchester will be host to the band giving their best. I asked Ryan about his experience playing in Manchester in 2022, where he fondly remembers a strong connection with the love radiating from the Manchester scene.

“I recall Manchester being very passionate, and almost primal in their appreciation of the live music setting,” he said; and I couldn’t help but laugh as I agreed with this perception. It’s “the very best energy to receive as a band,” he added. “It creates this feedback loop of heightened, chaotic, harmonised, loving energy in a space where everyone can have a transcendental experience, and Manchester offers that. So I’m really excited to return.”

Ryan felt that this connection with Manchester’s atmosphere was reflective of the passion Mother Mother put into their music. It compliments the band’s exceptional vocals coupled with stimulating instrumentals, where they desire a bit of chaos and abandon in their songs. The Manchester music scene does chaos and abandon well, and the audience easily reflected these elements into Mother Mother’s performances two-fold.

“You want the vibration to raise and elevate so that there’s a very easy continuation from song, to album, to the heart of the listener,” he described. Most importantly, “You want all of those things to harmonise.”

We concluded our chat with Ryan airing the band’s anticipation to be performing back in Manchester soon. “We’re so excited to return and we thank everyone who’s going to take the time and spend the money to come and hang out with us.”

Mother Mother play O2 Victoria Warehouse on February 18. Tickets here.

Grief Chapter is out February 16.