Featured image and gallery: Freya Barber
“There’s a certain spirit at these shows,” drawls frontman Ryan Guldemond. “It’s alive, it’s infectious,” he proclaims. Mother Mother very recently released their ninth studio album, Grief Chapter – a more matured, classic album which draws upon themes of death, mourning and the newfound acceptance that accompanies them. Despite the album’s seemingly somber attitude, the live show is anything but.
Liverpool-based band, Crawlers, warm up the crowd with their haunting and forceful portrayal of youth, melancholy and love. Lead singer Holly Minto effortlessly parades around the stage, carrying triumphantly the microphone stand she has adorned with an oversized satin pink bow.
As their grunge-influenced set draws towards its last few songs, she stops to express her gratitude to the Mother Mother crowd who seem just as eager to see Crawlers perform. “I just want to kiss you all on the mouth as a thank you,” she exclaims. Their set ends with breakthrough hit, ‘Come Over (Again)’, dedicated to anyone in the crowd with a “shitty ex”, instantly met with a twinkling sea of iPhone torches and swaying arms.
The band’s second time playing in Manchester, Mother Mother are welcomed to the stage as if they had graced it dozens of times before. Playing a mixture of both new and old songs, vocalists Ryan Guldemond, Molly Guldemond and Jasmin Parkin leap from strength to strength. The female vocalists otherworldly tones enhance cutting lyrics such as ‘I’ve grown tired of this body, fall apart without me body’ – a song which Guldemond dedicates to “anyone who doesn’t feel quite right in their body.”
The band take care to pay homage to their earlier albums – each just over 15-years-old. Tracks such as ‘Hayloft’ and ‘Verbatim’ gained rampant popularity online in 2020 for their eccentric lyrics and infectious melody and it’s songs like these that seem to elicit the biggest response from the crowd. One young man clears the surrounding area to form for his own dance circle.
It is clear Mother Mother are a band that have stood the test of time, attracting an entirely new generation of fans. They are sustaining their interest with a stellar live performance which seamlessly blends both the nostalgia of their older music and their more refined, evolved new sound.
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