Mother Mother — Oh My Heart

O My Heart

Last Gang/Universal

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

09/18/2008 10:47am

On their Touch Up debut album, Mother Mother sounded like a more acoustic, folky version of The New Pornographers. Here, they've largely ditched the acoustic guitars in favour of a more electric, plugged-in approach, and now they sound like they could be a carbon copy of the Pornos. I guess this isn't a surprise, considering Howard Redekopp, who produced the Pornos' Challengers, helmed this record. But it's pretty unfortunate, since O My Heart could have been a likeable record had the quintet managed not to sound a little too much like their fellow Vancouverites. Ryan Guldemond's voice is all Dan Bejar, while his sister Molly and Debra-Jean Creelman sound like Neko Case and Kathryn Calder. The only times they really break away from this sound-alike approach are on the jazzy "Try To Change" and closer "Sleep Awake," on which Molly Guldemond sounds (bizarrely) like Deerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki. Besides that, becoming trapped in someone else's sound is unfortunate and Mother Mother have further entrenched themselves in that here.

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