Momma returns with new record, documenting what it’s like to survive your twenties and experience love and loss
Words by Matt Keenan
Imagine yourself roadtripping, driving down a long winding road with the wind in your face, and thinking about someone you used to know. Few artists pair with the cathartic experience of examining love and loss the way that Momma does. Momma represent a self fulfilling prophecy: following their debut on Polyvinyl Records with ‘Household Name’, they became known for big guitars, catchy lyrical hooks, call and response choruses, and for asking what’s wrong with stepping into the spotlight?
Returning with their newest record ‘Welcome to My Blue Sky’, Momma have done what they sought out to do and more, expanding on their singular yet uncompromising voice. The newest record in the discography from high school friends and Momma co-founders Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman is a masterful effort at making an account of what it’s like to survive your twenties. Have you ever wanted to be with someone who isn’t over their ex? Have you ever wanted to be with someone you know you couldn’t? Have you ever felt left behind?
When you go to answer these questions on your own, you likely come up with specific answers and more importantly experiences. Not many artists can go about creating a record in a way that is personally cathartic for them, yet offers sentimental universality for millions of listeners. ‘Welcome to My Blue Sky’ serves as a noticeably urgent and raw sentimental offering from the band yet presents something for everyone listening to relate and connect to in their own way. Momma has found a way to remain singularly minded and simplistic, yet offer up creative complexity in a style all their own.
When you think of a personal recounting, or telling of a sentimental experience you might draw a comparison to a memoir. A memoir can be defined in two ways, either as “a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources” or “an essay on a learned subject”. Both of these definitions bring to mind specifics, so how can you detail your life and invoke emotional responses without revealing any details? Life is always up for interpretation, and everyone’s experiences and memories are different, so to create something so universally applicable yet so vague is quite the creative feat. The record doesn’t present with a lack of meaning, despite these vague details from the first to the last track its crammed with personal significance and important lyricism.
On tracks like “Welcome to My Blue Sky” Momma writes:
“Thought I’d run away for a while
Wanna start a new life
With someone who fits into mine
Jesus still loves you
So says the highway signs
I stopped to walk like we always do
But somethings off swear it’s me not you”
It’s that sort of tongue in cheek imagery, the way Momma illustrates a situation while lacking in details they let you decide what the song means to you while relating to it in their own way. That’s the sort of thing Momma encompasses on this record, they somehow turn down the details but turn up their sound and bring a brand new game all their own to the table. I absolutely love a good poet, and I will be the first to listen to specifics and details in songwriters work but I just couldn’t help but fall in love with this record and the way it forces you to reflect while being an incredibly meticulous and thoughtfully produced offering from Momma.
The record from start to finish offers more of what you probably loved from ‘Household Name’, yet expands on it in a dynamically satisfying way. From the clever lyricism on “Rodeo” to the layered guitars and captivating chorus on “I Want You (Fever)” every track finds its own way to offer something to fall in love with. Listening through the record, I fell in love with the soft vocals paired with the gently punchy guitars and drums on “Ohio All The Time”. Momma manages to remain one of the most incredible, genuine, and honest bands of all time. I’ve had the chance to catch them live on multiple occasions and every time they manage to get better and better. I highly recommend you listen to the new record, and get a taste of what Momma has to offer on ‘Welcome to My Blue Sky’.
You can check out Momma’s ‘Welcome to My Blue Sky’ available now below as well as wherever you get your music, and be sure to catch them on their largest headlining tour ever happening now. You can find details on their upcoming shows here.
