Mother & The Addicts - 'Take The Lovers Home Tonight' (Chemikal Underground)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Apparently, Mother's the ringleader and the Addicts are his bitches. Under the guidance of his questionable gender, they've made the most scratchy, fidgety and uncomfortable of records. Every word, you imagine, is uttered with a snarl, as if trying to force out something resembling comprehensible language out from a violently gurning face. It sounds like an album battling against a case of tourettes syndrome. And yet still, regardless of all this chaotic twitching, it often sounds as if very few people are actually playing at the same time. There are numerous 'Addicts' if you consider the sound closely, but what each is doing you can't quite pick out. Best guess, they're tangled up in their guitar leads, hitting the strings like a child caught up in a tantrum and generally getting themselves in to a bit of a state. Is it a strange sound? It's downright barmy, that's what it is.
It can also be a right old knees up so long as you don't pay attention to it. Do that and all that can follow is frustration. Just put it on, let it do its thing. Don't question it. Eventually, if these guidelines are closely followed, some kind of tune will appear sporadically. That thing you first regarded as an itch undergoes a metamorphosis in to a dance. It still sounds pretty horrible, but a least you're moving to it.
It's difficult to figure out whether this band are any good at making music, or just particularly good at being Mother and the Addicts. At every turn, there's the feeling that something's missing, or not falling in to place. It's guitar music with a new wave, post punk feel - but sounds as if it's being played very far away, by people only occasionally interested in showing that they're pretty talented. The rest of the time they just want to make, well, very annoying music.
It's a trying listen mainly just because it strays so agonisingly close to conventionally enjoyable, usual music (opener 'They Don't Even Like You' is not only a false sign towards a record of jumpy, thoroughly tuneful pleasure but also bizarrely pretty) but just refuses to obey any rules. It's a pest of a record. So attempt a change of tact. Things that irritate might actually be there to be indulged in. If something itches, scratch it. Listen, sod the consequences, it's what you want to do. Do it. Doesn't that feel better?
Oh lord, yes! 'Oh Yeah You Look Quite Nice' becomes a tune, 'Fuck Me Mummy, I Feel Ugly' suddenly looks incredibly sexy, 'Don't You Know That You Love Her?' resembles a piece of proper song writing! Against your better judgement this can certainly be enjoyed. But of course, you can scratch too hard, and Mother and the Addicts aren't worth that. There's a fair share of the inexcusable to it also, the misplaced dirge of 'Far Away', self parodic 'Who Art You Girls' or cumbersome replay of all the previously thrilling tricks in 'Medieval Soul' all fitting that billing.
Come to think of it, depending on what mindset you're in it's possible to find the whole thing inexcusable. Or, on the other hand, a fine piece of uniquely arresting, quirkily confrontational music. If this is crossing your mind, you get the impression the band haven't thought about all this nearly as much as you have. They're probably still enjoying that musical tantrum that started at the beginning of the record. Our diagnosis? There's surely some merit in that.
Artists in this article: Mother & The Addicts
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