Neu Pick
Our Mother come out swinging on debut EP ‘A.O.B.’
The Tottenham clan’s first steps are today’s Neu Pick.
Every weekday, DIY’s new music know-it-all Neu brings you one essential new release to get obsessed with. Today’s Neu Pick comes from Our Mother.
London four-piece Our Mother turned more than a few heads with recent single ‘Surprise Machine’, and we now have the first play of the whole of their debut EP ‘A.O.B.’ as today’s Neu Pick.
Recent single ‘Age Of Empirez’ showed a more restrained, calculated approach - the antithesis of the full-pelt entrance that was ‘Surprise Machine’. The band get all alt-J on ‘Lion OSX’, while ‘Silent Brass’ houses a cascade of layered vocals that show Our Mother doing tenderness as well as they do intensity.
We caught up with the band’s John Hartley to have a natter about ‘A.O.B’ and, um, recording music with wellies. Read the chat and stream the EP first on DIY below.
These are delicate songs, a bit like a house of cards. If one element falls out of place, the whole thing could topple. What comes first, when you write something new?
It’s hard to say really. The starting points for the tracks on the EP are all quite varied. Overall we like to work with just a few elements that work really well together, and we’re pretty cut throat about what makes it in and what doesn’t. The kerplunk aesthetic if you will.
You met at a Halloween party. Can you remember what you were all dressed as?
John: Goldfish. An orange jumpsuit with gold scales painted on.
Joe: Extra large Nirvana ‘In Utero’ t-shirt. With the transparent-organned angel on it. My mum bought it in 1991 when she was pregnant with my brother - ‘in utero’.
Paul: Naked (for a good deal of the party).
Liam: Whiskey-drenched shirt.
There’s a loose tech theme running round the EP. First of all, which piece of tech changed your life?
When I was a lad my parents got me an FM radio from a jumble sale. I think that was the first time I’d really listened to music independently and developed my own taste - ‘Ocean Drive’ by The Lighthouse Family being my favourite track. Then with the advent of Discman, Minidisc, iPod, iPhone, Tidal it all sort of fell off really.
Do you specifically write about technology, or is your music more informed by real life experience?
The internet and tech at large is a hot topic in the band. “The internet takes everything and gives me nothing back”, “The internet is really good”. Serious high level stuff. Generally, I think technology could help out a bit more. Not in the Gatesian/Zuckerbergian feudal sense, but in the everyday, you know teasmades and that.
The occasional field recording appears in your music. What’s the strangest thing you’ve captured?
Liam and Paul slapping two wellies together. It’s quite good because it sounds like a really BIG clap. That’s a very short field recording.
‘A.O.B’ comes out this Friday (29th April). Our Mother are set to play a release show for the EP on 3rd May at London’s The Waiting Room. Tickets are available via DICE.
Latest News
Featuring Yard Act, Death Cab For Cutie, Graham Coxon, Maisie Peters and more.