Momma – Household Name – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Indie alt-rock is alive and well!  This band, Momma, hail from Brooklyn and is led by twin guitarist/singers Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten.  This is actually their third album, and it hits all the sweet spots for fans of fuzzy guitars and hits them hard.

It kicks off with the slacker, laid-back Rip Off, which far from the suggestion of its title, is a pretty original sounding song, building slowly to a pounding payoff.  The album is designed to be blasted out of speakers, ideally while driving.  If it’s driving anthems you want, Speeding 72 sounds like the happy marriage of Juliana Hatfield and Veruca Salt with Friedman and Weingarten singing sweetly over glorious guitar snarl.  Medicine has an almost danceable groove, but if it’s an out-and-out anthem you’re looking for, there’s a ready-made one here in Rockstar.  Full of great big power chords and attitude, with aspirational lyrics such as “still need a drummer, the last one quit the band, his favourite song was Hummer”.

Highlights abound, with the dark, metallic-edged Tall Home, the great big power chords of No Stage, while Lucky is a bit like heavier Alanis yet it works.  Motorbike and Brave introduce a bit of jangle while remaining hard-hitting.  Spider has shades of the Pixies though it’s the one real throwaway.

The album is guitar heaven.  If there’s a criticism it’s that it feels very… controlled, a few more rough edges left in might have made for an even better album.  This is a collection of rocky pop songs that could easily be played on the radio – but probably won’t be.  Beautiful sweet voices combined with crunchy guitars – how bad is that?

Rockstar