Mother Mother: Very Good Bad Thing (10th anniversary, clear pink vinyl) [MOTHER MOTHER]

Why you'll love it

This 10th anniversary edition brings the Vancouver band's fifth album back on clear pink vinyl. It's the record where Mother Mother went big on synths, and it gave them the singles "Get Out the Way," "Monkey Tree" and "Modern Love."

This edition

• 10th anniversary edition
• Clear pink vinyl

About the album

Every band reaches the point where it either keeps doing the thing or plugs in something new. On their fifth album, Vancouver's Mother Mother plugged in: Very Good Bad Thing trades some of their wiry indie guitar for a glossier, synth-driven sound, a shift that would echo through the albums that followed.

Ryan Guldemond wrote every song, and he and his sister Molly trade vocals with keyboardist Jasmin Parkin, backed by drummer Ali Siadat and bassist Jeremy Page. Gavin Brown produced, and Ted Jensen mastered it at Sterling Sound in New York. "Get Out the Way" kicks the door open, "Monkey Tree" bounces on a tight, twitchy groove, and "Modern Love" is pure sugar-rush pop. Deeper in, "Reaper Man" and "I Go Hungry" lean into darker territory, the title track wrestles with a relationship that won't let go, and "Alone and Sublime" closes on a long, slow exhale.

The songs dig into identity, pressure and complicated relationships, the themes Guldemond keeps coming back to, set to some of the band's catchiest hooks. Ten years on it comes back in pink, which suits a record about very good bad things rather nicely.

Also at Kops: more Mother Mother on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Mother Mother, a reissue of the 2014 album.