Mother Mother

There’s an infectious energy coursing through Mother Mother’s music, a sense of joy and invention that’s always about to bubble over. The buoyant three-part harmonies of frontman Ryan Guldemond, his sister and keyboardist Molly Guldemond, and fellow singer and keyboardist Jasmin Parkin are one source of that exuberance; the band’s knack for matching sticky melodies and nervous, insistent rhythms is certainly another. Along with the striking visual impression created by the blond siblings at the helm, those sonic trademarks gave Mother Mother a distinct sensibility when the band emerged in Vancouver in 2005. Their frequent tours and first two albums for Last Gang Records led to a breakthrough in Canada with 2011’s Eureka, a sterling showcase of Mother Mother’s quirky humour, folk-inspired songcraft and synth-pop panache. The increasing shift toward a brasher dance-rock sound on 2017’s No Culture and 2018’s Dance and Cry won Mother Mother more attention internationally. Yet no one in or outside the band could’ve predicted the surge in popularity when three songs from 2008’s O My Heart—including the giddy “Hayloft”—inexplicably became the soundtracks for countless viral videos in 2020, racking up millions of streams. It was a welcome turn of events both for the Canadian alt-pop faves and for songs that deserve the maximum possible exposure.