14.

Mother Mother

Grief Chapter

This is Canadian band Mother Mother’s ninth record – they’ve been around for two decades or so now – but I’d never heard of them before 2024. They entered my orbit via a recommendation by an old friend, way back in February. Grief Chapter is a hugely entertaining album, wrapping complex ideas in catchy, shiny packaging. It shares some DNA with Chemtrails’ The Joy of Sects (in at #20), in that both involve glam-influenced indie rock that mixes accessibility with weirdness. Grief Chapter is the considerably more focused of the two records, though: Mother Mother are deep enough into their career now that they’ve honed their songwriting to levels of consistent excellence. While the art pop assault of ‘The Matrix’ is definitely my favourite track here, there is something to love everywhere one looks. As its title suggests, Grief Chapter is primarily interested in death, with recurring themes of living life while you can, the futility of existence, one’s twilight years, and, of course, grief itself. It all could have had quite a ‘midlife crisis’ feel to it, but the juxtaposition of such lyrical angst with the more uplifting, glitzy music keeps things from ever getting morose. Having enjoyed Grief Chapter so much, I’ve recently begun to scratch the surface of Mother Mother’s extensive back catalogue and it’s already clear that they have loads of interesting work for me to explore. On the to-do list for 2025.