Mother Mother and Said the Whale Rock Algonquin College

Mother Mother’s tour came to Algonquin Commons Theatre with their tour mates Said the Whale, and it felt like a family affair.

Said the Whale opened the show with their signature brand of indie rock. Aside from one song where Jacelyn Brown interspersed the verses with discordant piano chords, most of their music built on the theme of each other’s singing and instruments to generate a single, polished feeling. Tyler Bancroft and Ben Worcester took turns singing the lead, often coming together to deliver their yearning, hopeful vocal harmonies. Songs about love and family were interspersed with more political themes, with a song about secret agents, their single “UnAmerican” and a song they said they’d played in front of an Embassy that week.

During “UnAmerican”, to Said the Whale’s apparent surprise, Mother Mother walked onstage towards a standing table that had been set up mid-song, and played a game of poker. The band members drank from blue solo cups as they carelessly threw their cards down, and the crowd cheered. After Mother Mother returned backstage, Said the Whale described how they’d pranked Mother Mother at a previous show, and this was their revenge. “We’ve got to get them back somehow during their set,” he mused, “but it can’t be anything too bad. We can’t de-tune Ryan’s guitar or anything.”

Mother Mother came onstage with their unusual mix of alternative folk rock.  Tight pop songs were played precisely, and the way Ryan Guidemond’s guitar playing came together with the rich crackle of their synth effects could be felt throughout the room. It was what you often want in a live performance–like the recordings you’ve come to know, but better. As in their recordings, Mother Mother feels like a band that knows how to write a simple, elegant pop song, but chooses to challenge their audience whenever they can with tonal shifts, timing changes and more.

The band wasn’t afraid to jam, either. “Let’s Fall in Love” featured a synth solo on the high end of the keys, and showed the band’s ability to shift from smooth singing and gentle instrumentation to a more grinding, abrasive chorus. “Monkey Tree” featured a fun guitar solo, and Ryan Guidemond got the crowd to sing along.

Interestingly, the key synth hook in “Get Out The Way” was not played by either of the band’s keyboard players, showing how the band plays complex recordings live. I used to think that Mother Mother were an outlier in an increasingly electronic world of popular music, but I now appreciate that they’ve changed with the times, and their music contains plenty for fans of modern music production styles. Ryan Guidemond introduced one song by saying they’d play it “like we used to”, on his acoustic guitar, and it was clear that their music had changed over the years.

Both female vocalists were given solo showcases. “Body of Years” fell quiet towards the end, as Ryan Guidemond began palm-muting the chords for Radiohead’s “Creep”. His sister Molly Guidemond, whose gentle “oh”s had previously added an eerie feel to “Get Out The Way”, sang the “run”s in the explosive chorus with passion and intensity…and then the song segued back into the end of “Body of Years”. It was the finest “Creep” cover I’ve ever seen. After the encore, Jasmin Parkin joined Ryan on solo piano for “Biting on a Rose” that showed off her impressive range, from subdued and breathy to belting out the high notes.

Ryan Guidemond had kind words for their tourmates Said the Whale. “After you grind it out on the road for a month in Canadian winter, you become family”, he said, at one point dedicating a song to them. Said the Whale joined Mother Mother onstage for a song, and brought a round of shots for everyone to drink, perhaps as their prank. (I wouldn’t have felt pranked if I were in Mother Mother, but I would have thought it was totally sweet.) Ryan Guidemond gave shout-outs to the sound and lights engineers and the staff working backstage. In their second-last show of the tour, their whole touring team felt comfortable together, and their affection for each other seemed genuine. It’s nice to see a family come together.

Written by Aaron Nava