Brooklyn – In the city that never sleeps, the Brooklyn-based band MOTHER kept us up late on a school night with a performance at Baby’s All Right. MOTHER shared the bill with Reputante and Dreamshow, and the night was a colorful one. With little recorded material to date, MOTHER still put in their all to try to impress the audience with their burgeoning songs with mixed results.
MOTHER first surfaced several months ago, when their debut single “Easy” came crashing through the blogosphere, seemingly materialized out of thin air. An instant stunner, the track reached over 60,000 plays and landed in Hype Machine’s top ten within the first week alone. “Easy” was so good, and gained ground so rapidly, that the release had the entire music community intrigued by MOTHER’s mystique.
With limited press exposure, the band was shrouded in mystery that kept journalists hot on their trail. Yet, it would appear that anonymity was never MOTHER’s intention and the reason for their invisibility may be that all four members are tethered tightly to other commitments. Darren Will is the bassist for the NY-based group Rathborne. Simon Oscroft is a guitarist for Los Angeles group No.Jimmy Giannopoulos is in two NY bands (Lolawolf and Reputante), and Penn Badgley, for his part, is widely known for his role inGossip Girl.
The band got together in late 2013, played their first live set at the Echo in LA three days following the release of “Easy,” and have performed a handful of shows since. The recording of “Easy” and subsequently “Victim” were coast-to-coast affairs. With material recorded in Brooklyn and Echo Park, where Oscroft resides, the group converged in Chicago to mix and master their early works.
With swirling undertones of funk rifts and an overarching R&B atmosphere, “Easy” is a powerfully mesmerizing track. Performed live, the song certainly shined. The percussion is bold, on point, and lends a solid foundation to the embedded wailing and wandering electronic guitar work.
MOTHER’s second cut was “Victim,” and proved to be another standout track of the evening. “Victim” is a sultry ballad with intensely intimate soundscapes; it is unapologetically saucy and boundlessly blunt. Supported by a yowling saxophone, Badgley’s vocal work infuses the track with a cool and crooning buoyancy.
Above all, MOTHER’s work is marked by a distinct and thumping, life-giving pulse. I’d like to say that this group’s in-person performance lived up to the hype- but, unfortunately, something about the act feels far too staged to be authentic. A polite way to describe Badgley onstage is self-absorbed; a more accurate description would be masturbatory. This is an act that could have captivated its audience with the effortlessness of its sonic architecture, but they currently risk alienating all future fans if they fail to fine-tune their stage presence.
Recorded, MOTHER’s work shines through with a sort of organic quintessence most bands work hard to create. This group’s strength lies in their intuition, but clearly humility isn’t as inherent in their live performances. Confidence is a vital virtue for any new band, but humbleness is just as crucial. Maybe Badgley thought a career in music would be a sure thing- unfortunately the reality of showmanship isn’t always so easy.
Liz Rowley
Latest posts by Liz Rowley (see all)
- firekid Dazzles New Yorkers With His Metropolitan Mountain Music - September 14, 2015
- Caveman Blows New Yorkers Out Of The Water - July 16, 2015
- Danielle Miraglia Explores The Paradox Of Egotism - May 4, 2015
