[Starting this week we’re trying something a little new with Tuesday Tracks. Rather than highlight three songs every week we’re going to try and simplify things and talk about one—but hopefully do it a lot more justice than we have been. The problem with showcasing three songs every week is that it’s really difficult to try and get under the surface of all of them. So, to start things off we’re going to look at the first single off Mother Mother’s new album Eureka.]

Mother Mother's new single, The Stand

“The Stand” has been referred to as a departure for the band in many early reviews, which is inaccurate. It’s different for sure, but only superficially. What Mother Mother achieved on their previous full length O My Heart is mostly replicated here, but in a good way—bigger and better, growth over departure.

The best thing about O My Heart was that at its best, the songs felt so fully realized and complete it was like the individual sounds couldn’t be separated from the whole, like each piece of the song appeared that way immaculately. Basically, Mother Mother managed to do on that album what many bands spend their entire careers chasing—a unique sound that is decidedly them and entirely complete. That’s not hyperbole. Listen to “Body of Years” off that record and, although it might evoke other genres and reveal influences, it is entirely unique. Not only that, it’s as catchy as all fuck:

“The Stand” is that and more.

“The Stand” adds a level of playfulness that didn’t exist before, a quality that works especially well here because if you really wanted to get into it, the song is really about using booze to numb your frustration with the excesses and arrogances of modern society. Of course you’d never guess from the music, which is in itself a celebration.

The result is a song that’s angsty without being too obvious and infectious to the point the it’s no stretch to imagine a room full of glassy-eyed fans joyously singing along to the chorus:

“I can hardly stand the sight of it all,

I can hardly stand the sound of it all,

I can hardly stand the taste of it all,

I can hardly stand the smell of it all.”

Finally ending with the refrain “Everyone’s fucked and they don’t even know it.”