Motherhood
Share “Shepherd”
Announce new album: Winded – June 24, 2022
via Forward Music Group
The New Brunswick-based Avant-rock trio, Motherhood is sharing their new single, “Shepherd” which arrives as the second preview of their forthcoming record, Winded – out June 24 through the Halifax-based label, Forward Music Group. The new record follows 2019’s Dear Bongo, and comes self-produced by the band alongside Kyle Cunjak (The Olympic Symphonium, Force Fields) before being mixed by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier; it features additional vocals by Julie Aubé and Katrine Noël, from Acadian space-folk trio Les Hay Babies.
Winded dives headlong into a narrative that explores the mundanity of the natural world as it mirrors human suffering. In their beloved home province of New Brunswick, with its dramatic vistas as a backdrop, the trio spins a yarn about navigating a straight line through a storm – amid the driftwood and stones, under tireless ocean waves, and peering cliffside into a foggy void. Simply put, the songs on Winded are about “persevering—perhaps for no good reason.” But perseverance is no futile gesture, and Winded is as resolute as a “tightrope over a deep hole”.
The opening drum beat and ferocious pathway emerge and instantly hook you on the compelling nature of this adventurous creation. The soundscape intensifies, continuously adding more attributes, from the jaunty notes emitting this warmth and gentle warble into the atmosphere whilst the complex surging fuzz tonality and dual vocal notes ooze such character.
Motherhood have this impressive vision that encapsulates its audience entirely, experimental elements, a fearless approach and this rich understanding of connection from their words to their listeners.
The songwriting on Winded pulls language from the “hillbilly” regionalisms he comes from by honestly, painting a vivid portrait of the album’s protagonist and the people they encounter, breathing contemporary life into jokes, sayings, and old wive’s tales. His delivery throughout cops frequently from hip-hop, helping foreground Sipkema’s relentless, complex rhythms. All over Winded, Stevens’ harmonies float like some bright ghost, while her bass and synths pulse and sting and wash.
“Shepherd”, which has dropped into rotation over at CBC Radio 3 follows last month’s track, “Ripped Sheet” arriving as another hint of the boisterous, thrashing new record, Winded. Written with Murakami and Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice in mind, the unnervingly sweet single was one of the very first songs the band started writing for their new album – way back in April 2020 during the initial lockdowns – and one of the very last to come together. Fast and poppy, the band tried to emulate Beach Boys, Tom Waits, and Man Man but in the end, ended up with something that is none of those things… or maybe all of those things?
“I kept picturing someone walking through the halls of a motel, with shag carpet and cigarette smoke,” explains Motherhood member Penelope Stevens. “The demo was originally called Creepy Motel, for that reason, even though the song ended up being about sheep. We spent a long time playing with major and minor transitions, taking inspiration from the Marty Robbin’s Gunfighter Ballads and old westerns. Then Brydon (Crain, singer) wrote the verses and chord progression, and we battled it all out until basically the night before we went into the studio. For being such a hard-won song, it ended up being one of our collective favourites, for sure.”
Motherhood
Winded
June 24, 2022
via Forward Music Group
1. Crawly I
2. Crawly II
3. Shepherd
4. Tabletop
5. Flood
6. Ripped Sheet
7. Handbrake
8. Brakes Snap (Demo)
9. Shuttered Down
10. Trees
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