Brooklyn-based band Momma – led by singers/guitarists Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten – today release their highly anticipated new album Household Name. Produced by bassist Aron Kobayashi Ritch and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Emily Lazar, the record is Momma’s first full-band collaboration recorded in a proper studio that sees them skilfully carve out their own path in today’s world of alt-rock. Balancing heavy riffs, deep emotions, inviting sonic production, and a light-hearted, wry sense of humour, Household Name tells the world: This is Momma.
Bygone heroes helped inspire a lyrical theme throughout Household Name: the rise and fall of the rock star, and the tropes and tribulations that come with that arc. The theme allowed Momma to celebrate (and, in some cases, directly reference) icons like Nirvana, Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, and the Breeders’ Kim Deal, while weaving in their own perspective and experiences. Although Household Name finds the band embracing personal storytelling for the first time, much of the album embraces a satiric sensibility with its tongue-in-cheek rock culture references.
It follows the release of the album’s latest single, “Motorbike“, accompanied by a video directed by Emma Penrose and Zach Shorrosh, earlier this week.
Weingarten says: “I wrote this song about a boy I had a crush on who really wanted nothing to do with me,” explains Weingarten, who sings lead vocals on “Motorbike.” “The song is basically just fantasy – even though it’s about a real person, it’s also about how we can make up elaborate ideas of who other people are in our heads, and get so caught up in these fake scenarios that they kind of end up feeling real. I wanted the song to feel like you’re escaping something, because my daydreams about this boy and his motorcycle were definitely an escape from my life at the time.”
The album release had helped fuel a breakthrough year for the band that has seen them open for Wet Leg and Beabadoobee in the US and perform their first headlining shows in the UK, including a sold-out show at The Windmill in London, and fill a string of packed rooms across Brighton for The Great Escape.
The band will follow the album with dates in the US with Snail Mail. All tour dates and tickets HERE.
