Eureka is Mother Mother's "bright, confident" record
It's an all-too-familiar situation in these digital days: weeks before a record is slated to hit the streets, it somehow found its way onto the internet. It explains why Ryan Guldemond of Mother Mother says the band doesn't exactly feel like "little kids at Christmas" when I talk to him on the eve of the release of their third record, Eureka.
"The idea of it being released seems laughable, just because it's been finished for so long and it's already been leaked and in a sense shared with the world," says Guldemond, adding that the album was finished around Christmas last year. "In the age of cyber promiscuity, the minute something is available in audio format, whether or not it's distributed, it's essentially out there for consumption."
Not that Guldemond isn't proud of Eureka. He and the rest of the Vancouver-based band — sister Molly, plus Ali Siadat, Jeremy Page and Jasmin Parkin — headed into the studio with a very specific goal in mind: to create what he describes as "a really immediate, confident, bright, well-produced record."
"By well produced, I just mean of high sonic value, like not lo-fi," he qualifies. "Things shifted somewhat along the way, but I think we held onto that vision to the end. It was nice to arrive at the end of it all feeling like it wasn't drastically different from what we set out to do."
It's safe to say they've achieved their goal. The entrancing, soaring harmonies and hints of quirkiness the band is known for are all there, but wrapped with poppy, uber catchy —dare I say radio-friendly — instrumentation that make it an impossible record to put down. Guldemond, who produced the record, says a lot of work went into making Mother Mother's signature vocal style really stand out.
"We also wanted to make the vocals shine and really sound organic, like people were just singing. With our music, with all these harmonies, it can be easy to get away from that when in studio," he says. It was particularly challenging when it came to working on his own vocals. "It was hard to jump from being the cocksure producer to being the vulnerable artist," says Guldemond. "Usually, there's someone on the other side of the glass who steers you in the right direction and guides your path."
Seems being self-guided has worked out just fine, given Eureka's largely positive critical reception.
Mother Mother plays a pair of sold-out shows at 8 p.m. this Sunday and Monday, March 27 and 28, at Alix Goolden Hall.