''Mothers'' is the second studio album by British

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Swim Deep Swim Deep are an English indie pop band formed in 2011 in Birmingham. The band currently consists of Austin Williams (vocals), Cavan McCarthy (bass), James Balmont (keyboards), Robbie Wood (guitar), and Thomas Fiquet (drums). Swim Deep were f ...

. It was released on 2 October 2015 on Chess Club Records, a subsidiary of

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. Following the success of their debut album, ''

Where the Heaven Are We ''Where the Heaven Are We'' is the debut studio album by British indie rock band Swim Deep, released on 5 August 2013 on Chess Club Records, a subsidiary of RCA Records, RCA. It peaked at number 20 in the UK album charts and received mostly posi ...

'', Swim Deep began to record ''Mothers'' in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in late 2014. ''Mothers'' was originally scheduled for release on 19 September 2015 but was pushed back until 2 October. ''Mothers'' peaked at number 55 on the U.K. charts and received generally positive reviews.

Singles

The lead single from the album, "To My Brother", was released on 9 February 2015. "To My Brother" was noted for its more psychedelic style than previous Swim Deep music and its

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

influences. Andy Baber of ''

musicOMH ''MusicOMH'' (stylized as ''musicOMH'') is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History ''MusicOMH'' was founded an ...

'' described the song as "a blissful slice of

psychedelic pop Psychedelic pop (or acid pop) is a genre of pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the mid-to-late 1960s, elements included " trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, ...

that nods to heavily towards the late ‘80s and early ‘90s and, in particular,

Primal Scream Primal Scream are a Scottish rock music, rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie (musician), Jim Beattie (guitar). The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simon ...

’s ''

Screamadelica ''Screamadelica'' is the third studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was first released on 23 September 1991 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and on 8 October 1991 in the United States by Sire Records. The album marked a ...

''". The second single, "One Great Song and I Could Change the World", was released on 30 April and is featured on the soundtrack for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

video game ''

FIFA 16 ''FIFA 16'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android and iOS. The g ...

''. The third single, "Grand Affection", was debuted at ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' Sounds of the Summer on 19 June. The fourth single, "Namaste", was released on 12 August. Rhian Daly of ''NME'' described "Namaste" as "a great big bolt of pop that’s impossible to ignore".

Musical style

''Mothers'' was noted for its distinctly different style in comparison with ''

''. Speaking to '' DIY'', lead singer Austin Williams addressed the band's new direction, saying, "I feel like we’re all shaving our heads and going to war with this record." Andy Baber of ''

'' wrote, "It is clear the new five-piece had a lot of fun experimenting with their sound and it is a drastic departure from ''Where The Heaven Are We.''" Tshepo Mokoena of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' wrote the band "ditched the loose and baggy guitar pop of 2013’s ''Where the Heaven Are We?'' in favour of psych-pop that contorts itself into pulsing Balearic acid house and

motorik Motorik is the 4/4 beat often used by, and heavily associated with, krautrock bands. Coined by music journalists, the term is German for "motor skill". The motorik beat was pioneered by Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with German experimental rock b ...

rhythms." '' DIY''s Stephen Ackroyd said "Fueiho Boogie", the album's final track, "explodes time and time again into increasingly more ridiculous

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

extravaganzas".

Reception

At review aggregate site

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, ''Mothers'' has an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 79 out of 100, based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Mokoena called the album "a playful and boldly curious return". Ackroyd described the album as "brave, fresh, exciting", while writing "it works spectacularly". Ackroyd also praised the band's confidence, describing the album as "delivered with the swagger of someone who’s just half-inched Joseph’s Technicolor Dreamcoat". '' Q''s review stated "''Mothers'' marks this once unremarkable band as real contenders." In a more mixed review, Baber praised "To My Brother" and "One Great Song and I Could Change the World", but likened "Grand Affection" to "a theme tune for a terrible ‘80s video game" and called "Laniakea" "just plain irritating". Baber wrote ''Mothers'' lacked moments that stood out, calling the record "a case of close, but not close enough".

Track listing

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums Psychedelic pop albums Swim Deep albums