MOTHER – When Tigers Tease Me EP

Mother is one of many unsigned bands in Oslo, and I’ve been aware of their existence for quite a while. However, I’d never been given the appropriate chance to hear them play, until a little while ago, when I quite accidentally found myself in a garage where they were having a gig.

My jaw dropped. They had it all: the songs, the energy, the attitude, and the musical skills. Most of these traits well in excess compared to a frightening high number of signed bands.

That evening I made sure to get ahold of their five track recording, When Tigers Tease Me. Not exactly a brand new effort, but still the only release to clench onto if you want to add Mother to your music collection.

My experience at their gig was the harder Mother played, the better Mother sounded. The EP doesn’t quite capture this since three of the five tracks were chosen to be rather slow and relaxed tunes … for some reason. Live, Mother stood out as a much more energetic band than their recording debut reveals, which makes at least me wish for a more uptempo release from the band in the future. That would be a blast. However, a harder drum production, especially the bass drum (which at crucial moments is absent!) would have lifted When Tigers Tease Me up to a much more pleasing and representative level.

Anyway, track four, “The Devil’s Dragons”, is a masterpiece! It sums up 30 years of rock, and brings my mind back to Ted Nugent of the seventies, The Cult of the eighties, Alice In Chains of the nineties, to mention a few. Your love for Mother after hearing this song will prove Freud right on certain matters.

“The Devil’s Dragons” overshadows the rest of the material even though track three, “The Melody”, conveys some very cool vocal arrangements and a convincing endeavour on a multi-genre crossover.

Mother deserves attention. A lot of attention. This review is my contribution to Mother’s plight. Let’s hope someone with a record company does their job too.