Mobile Travel A Dark Path On Tales From The City

When Mobile burst onto the scene in 2006, they were quickly lumped in with other '80s rock revivalists and were tagged "The Killers of the north." With catchy top radio hits like "Montreal Calling" and "Out Of My Head," the band quickly gained national popularity. But unlike The Killers, Mobile failed to take off into the international spotlight, as the two hit singles off their Tomorrow Starts Today debut failed to break them to a greater audience.

Mobile lead singer Mat Joly admits that in order to sign a record deal they were writing singles instead of a cohesive album. The second time around, Mobile wanted an LP that would be appreciated from beginning to end. To accomplish that task, the band changed the way they did everything.

Guitarist Christian "Criq" Brais often collaborates with Joly during the songwriting process. But for Tales From The City, Mobile's second album, the two longtime friends went their separate ways and looked at two very different musical eras for inspiration. They eventually united again and shared the magic they discovered.

"Bands like The Cure, The Smiths and The Cult were all our favourite bands growing up," Joly explains. "But for this record, I've been listening to The Rolling Stones and The Afghan Whigs and soul music from the late '60s and '70s because I wanted a different approach instead of, you know, trying to rewrite the first album."

The other half of the Mobile creative department was stuck deep in eyeliner and glam rock.

"Criq was listening to a lot of Gary Numan and Bowie from the late '70s period. When we got back together, we sat down and we had something going. When listening to the record, there's just a different vibe, and I'm happy. I think we've achieved our goal with this album."

Elements from the band's varied influences meld effortlessly into one another on Tales From The City. "Gravity" shows Joly's soul inspiration. While the band maintain the driving electric guitar riffs and '80s keyboard melodies they're known for, they opt for light and airy choruses carried by back-up soul vocals.

In contrast, "No Tomorrow" shows a new side to Joly as he turns on a Bowie-like, bad-boy charm with low, mysterious-sounding vocals. It's a definite change from his usual upbeat and energized delivery.

Tales From The City was recorded in Mobile's Montreal hometown between the months of October 2007 and this past February. It took a darker route partly because it was created during a tough period for the band. Joly dealt with six deaths all around the same time, and Brais received the news that his mother had cancer (but is fortunately fine now).

"Everything that has happened in our personal lives made us think in a different way," Joly says. "It made me write things that I haven't written before, and I felt lucky that I had the music so I could express myself through music and lyrics instead of talking about it."

The grand, melodic "All Is Forgiven, Pts. I, II & III" is a song that captures the emotions the band felt at the time, combining hope and loss with the lyrics, "Take my hand, while I fade away/Take my hand, I can start again."

"It shows on the record that it is a darker record than the first album," Joly says. "On the first album, it was very pop and we wanted to do something very different for the second album. All the tragedies I guess happened at the right moment. There's never a right moment for that, but we used it in a good way."

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Mommy Dearest

The second song on Tales From The City is titled "Mother," a familiar muse for rock 'n' rollers. Here are some other musicians who've written and recorded songs titled "Mother":

• John Lennon
• Pink Floyd
• Danzig
• Ashanti
• Tori Amos
• Burning Spear

As a bonus, Spice Girls and My Chemical Romance each did songs called "Mama," while Queen have one called "Tie Your Mother Down."

The following feature article is taken from the October 2008 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, head on over to the Chart Shop.