Todd M. Duym

Vancouver indie-rock band Mother Mother released their third album Eureka earlier this year, and have just concluded a European tour and summer festival circuit. The band consists of brother and sister duo Ryan (guitar and vocals) and Molly Guldemond (vocals and keyboard), plus Jasmin Parkin (keyboard and vocals), Ali Siadat (drums), and Jeremy Page (bass). 

The band formed while Ryan Guldemond was in music school studying jazz guitar. He began writing songs as an escape from studying and, after finding himself enjoying the experience, decided to pursue it professionally.  He was living with his sister at the time and they began playing with a college friend.

“It was just a stripped down arrangement we were playing,” Guldemond admits. “Lots of open mics and stuff. And then it just kind of expanded into a rock band.”

Mother Mother first received significant recognition following the release of O My Heart in 2008, but their latest release may be their most shining achievement to date.

“We wanted to make a record that was confident, bold, and punchy, and I think we did,” Guldemond says.  “We wanted it to be more emblematic of the band, and not use very many outside sounds or musicians outside what the band was able to create.” Mother Mother’s sound is eclectic and varied. It’s rock with a folksy undertone, which can easily switch to the gentle hum of a heartfelt, stripped acoustic piece. 

“We do a lot of genres, I mean, if you pick up an electric guitar, turn it up, and throw in a drummer, it becomes rock. Throw in some Dixieland splashes, then it becomes experimental indie rock, and soon it gets a little ridiculous with all the cross-contaminated genres. I guess at the end of the day we’re a rock band that dabble[s].” 

Guldemond does not consider genre or what he thinks songs should turn out to be when writing lyrics. His creative process is to let the song do the talking. 

“There’s not a real process of reconciliation, we try and serve the song,” he says. “Whatever the song calls for, we give. We listen to what the song is asking for. I guess I write from experience, but it’s really not very autobiographical stuff, it’s kind of fictitious stuff. It’s elaborate stories about characters. I prefer not to write about myself in any obvious fashion because, I don’t know, I can conjure up many more exciting things that are unreal, rather than my own account.”

Despite the success the band has had of late, they’re still as frustrated with the state of the music industry as when they began. They chose their name to embody the sentiment—”Mother, Mother” is the cry of the orphan, symbolizing the alienation the band feels in the commercial world of music. 

“There’s so much we’d like to change [about the music industry],” Guldemond says.  “I guess the demand for immediacy would be the best way to put it—the idea that songs have to be so concise and formulaic as to digest them in a very immediate fashion. I guess I would change people’s ability to tackle more elaborate schemes in the form of pop songs.”

Mother Mother plays Cabaret Mile-End on Nov. 12. Tickets are $19.50.