Back in August, we wrote about ‘Giant Bog’ by Kamloops, BC indie rock band Mother Sun, the lead single from their new album, Meadow 6, on Earth Libraries. The single was what we described as “a sprawling track which serves as a kind of retro-futurist hothouse within which all manner of things can sprout and grow wild,” and set the scene for an album that combines motorik krautrock, jazz funk, late 60s folk and dreamy power pop to explore the natural world and humanity’s place in it. As lead Jared Doherty describes: “On this record with a lot of the lyrics, I became really interested in plants and humans’ relationship with them and the earth. Gathering & farming, commodifying & exploiting, researching & controlling, using to alter consciousness.”
Mother 6 finally came out last week and we couldn’t help but highlight it one last time. Unsurprisingly, the best place to start is the opening track, a bright and psych-inflected folk pop song that expertly sets the scene for what’s to come. Titled ‘Subterranean Homecourt Advantage’, it’s one of many that looks at the world as something almost mystically wondrous. “A lot of the early musical ideas started sitting outside playing guitar in the garden,” Doherty continues. “I think with these songs we wanted to create a record that sonically speaks to the magic that is constantly unfolding all around in the natural world.”
So it’s almost something of a love song. But not one dedicated to another human being but the planet we are infinitely lucky to call home. The lyrics are sparse and cryptic, rich in imagery that paints our world as vibrant and wondrous as something from a fairy tale.
Shimmering homesick world
You’re our girl
We’re your imagination
Flickering light
In peripheral vision