Mothers - When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired

Mothers’ debut begins, as its title suggests, in charmingly simple fashion. With the bare minimum of twinkling guitar accompanied by the occasional chugging line of strings, ‘Too Small For Eyes’ is a stripped-back showcase of the endearing vocals of Kristine Leschper that make Mothers so special. Written largely solitarily by Leschper before later expanding to the three-piece that makes up Mothers today, it’s only right that the album should begin in this fashion. Wavering and crackling, Leschper’s self-taught vocal style finds its strengths in its unorthodoxy and its blemishes, adding heart and personality to already intimate subject matter.

That’s not to say this is all Mothers have going for them; ‘When You Walk A Long Distance And You Are Tired’ suddenly bursts into life for ‘It Hurts Until It Doesn’t’ as tender folk turns into sensitive but full-bodied rock. Nothing is overstated or particularly complex but it’s in the little flairs of trickery, littered throughout each track that Mothers really come alive.