Mothers started as the solo project of Kristine Leschper from Athens, Georgia and, while it now denotes an Indie-folk quartet, the feel remains that of an individual statement rather than a collective work.
Leschper's voice has an emotional fragility like that of Mary Margaret O'Hara and her lyrics express a similar level of doubt bordering on despair. The songs are mostly about struggling with personal identity and tread a delicate line between self hatred or self expression. Blind panic never seems too far away.
"I don't like myself when I'm awake" she confesses on It Hurts Until It Doesn't and by way of some perverse consolation observes that "You love me mostly when I'm sleeping" on Lockjaw.
The opening song (Too Small For Eyes) begins with a plucked mandolin as the only musical support and her plaintiff voice sounds particularly vulnerable without the full band backing or string arrangements (by McKendrick Nearden of Grand Vapids) which can be found on other songs.
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The level of soul bearing means that this debut work is one of those records which, like O'Hara's, could be a one-off or may be the start of something big.
For the moment it stands as a singular and striking work that burns with an intensity that is both unsettling and fascinating
Mothers' website
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