MOTHER MOTHER + CRAWLERS @ THE BRIGHTON DOME, BRIGHTON, 5TH MARCH 2024
I must confess that until recently, I was completely unaware of Mother Mother’s
existence, despite them being nine albums and nineteen years into their career.
Thus I am somewhat surprised that when I arrive at the venue, the queue to gain
admittance to the Brighton Dome snakes along the front of the venue and down New Road almost to North Street. Obviously, there are a lot of people who don’t share my
ignorance. As I will discover, this is very much my loss.
However, before we delve further into the pros and cons of the headliners, we
must turn our attention to the support act Crawlers. I previously saw the band at
the Victorious Festival last year. Having initially heard that they were a “TikTok
sensation” I was initially rather doubtful about them. The whole thing smacked of
hype. However, they’re an excellent live band with some superb material, so if
there is any hype, it’s well deserved.
The audience tonight is mostly young and enthusiastic, which gives the gig the
real feeling of an event. Crawlers seem to be more self-assured than when I saw
them at Victorious, with Amy Woodall coaxing some brilliant sounds from her
Gibson SG. Vocalist Holly Minto is a natural frontperson, and the audience is with
her all the way. Crawlers’ set ends with ‘that TikTok song’ ‘Come Over (Again)’.
Everyone has their phones in the air with their lights on. As reactions to a support
band go, Crawlers should be pretty pleased. They have just released their debut
album, The Mess We Seem To Make, and have a number of festival slots booked
for the summer, including Reading and Leeds, where I’m sure that they’ll go down
a storm.
Mother Mother take the stage to a reception that isn’t dissimilar to that of a
Beatles crowd. I should point out that I’m not anywhere near old enough to have
seen the Fab Four, but I have heard the recordings. The band have a new album
out entitled Grief Chapter, and in case anybody is unaware of that, the opening song
‘Nobody Escapes‘ is from it. It has a definite indie/alternative feel to it, but as
tonight’s gig will show, Mother Mother bounce around many genres, making them
difficult to categorise, which is a very good thing. A one-trick pony they ain’t!
Another thing that immediately endears the band to me is that although they have
a new album out, they don’t metaphorically ram it down the audience’s throat. In
tonight’s twenty-four-song set (including encores), there are only four songs from
the new album.
The vocals sound better live than they do on record, especially those of vocalists
and keyboardists Molly Guldemond and Jasmin Parkin, which can sound ever so
slightly ‘whiney’. They certainly don’t sound like that onstage. I have a feeling that
vocalist and guitarist Ryan Guldemond may be a little bit too clever for his own
good, but that may be just my jealousy speaking. Not only does he sing many of
the lead vocal parts, but he seemingly effortlessly peals off some gloriously ringing
guitar solos to boot. It’s simply not fair.
They’re not shy of throwing in the odd cover version, either. ‘The Matrix‘ includes some of the Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind‘, and the classic ‘Hayloft‘ also includes a foray into ‘Video Games‘ by Lana Del Ray. There is a brief touch of drama when somebody passes out in the crowd, but the band take it in their stride, ensuring that the security staff know and halting the show whilst the unfortunate individual is taken care of.
Having proved that they can rock with the magnificently riffy ‘Explode‘, Mother
Mother go the other way with a short acoustic set. The material for this is mostly
taken from the band’s first two albums, Touch Up and O My Heart, from 2007 and
2008 respectively. These songs are also a great showcase for the band’s three-part harmonies, which are frankly delicious. They do showmanship as well. Later
in the set, the interplay between Ryan, Molly and Jasmin is almost comparable to
Meat Loaf. Although obviously not quite, as Ryan and Molly are siblings.
After the main set ends, Ryan returns alone with an acoustic guitar to perform the
new album’s title track, ‘Grief Chapter‘. The song is about a friend who lost a family
member, and I have to say is very affecting. The rest of the band return for a final
encore of ‘Burning Pile‘ from the O My Heart album from 2008. Mother Mother are
clearly very aware that music has a broad spectrum, and tonight, they have
covered a great deal of it.
Review by MARK KELLY
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