There’s a lot of fun to be had in sifting through Bandcamp pages, our deep collection of press releases and hazy memories of lower tier festival acts to find artists to feature in this New Music section. After a few hours, you might come across band who kind of sound like Carrie Brownstein fronting Blue Album-era Weezer, a jungle producer who summons the spirit of ’94 or an inexplicably trendy Brooklyn trio who basically sound like Phil Collins. But, to be honest, the hardest thing is to find something which sounds original.
Our Mother are a London-based four piece who seem to have quietly carved out a style that belongs only to them. With a sound compromising of electronic drum pads, piano, bass, guitar, brass and unconventional vocals, their forthcoming EP A.O.B. provides plenty of nuances to explore during a headphones listen. But the best part is that, perhaps due to the strength of the melodies, the EP doesn’t feel like an endurance test. “It’s great to aim for originality, so long as you don’t end up in the obscure/difficult/prog-experimental bin,” the band say via email. “Our plan was always to try and make three or four minute tracks which could hook you on first listen, but which on a second play are working on a reasonably sophisticated level. We do experiment a bit with time signatures and key changes, but couldn’t claim association with the ‘classically trained’ label. It should be relatively accessible pop music, and we don’t want to sound like wankers.”
Surprise Machine, the first track to be shared from A.O.B., exemplifies Our Mother’s incorporation of contemporary electronic music into their formula, making them a sound halfway between an organic band and a more digital based bedroom project. “We literally record in a bedroom and practice live in a bedroom so that maybe comes across,” they explain. “We do harbour dreams of having a Timbaland-size mixing desk at our disposal, or Timbaland, but for the moment it’s just four guys making it up and trying to produce something which sounds half decent on a speaker system.”
With A.O.B. set for release in April via Lucky Number (also home to Hinds, Alex G and Sebastien Tellier) and – it’s worth mentioning – a pretty cool website running, it looks like Our Mother are ready to give things a push. Although, as their first major show at 2014’s Bestival suggests, their networking skills could take some work. “We were camped in the same artist section as James Blake,” they remember, “and Joe [bass] went up to try and recommend the band. Unfortunately he’d been sick five minutes before and not really managed a great clean-up job. James B was pretty nice about it but his manager was really unimpressed. It was a stunningly bad first impression.”