A remixed, resequenced version of what had been Mother Mother's D.I.Y.
self-titled debut from 2006, Touch Up is an engagingly quirky folk-rock record strongly reminiscent of both the Roches and the trio's Vancouver compatriots the Be Good Tanyas.
The biggest difference is that one-third of the trio, singer-guitarist Ryan Guldemond, is a boy-type person with a voice considerably less sweet than those of his sister Molly Guldemond and family friend Debra-Jean Creelman: his yelping leads on "Verbatim" and "Neighbour" show why Molly and Debra-Jean's close harmonies are the dominant factor here.
But as long as the girls are handling the lead vocals, the songs on Touch Up are charmingly jagged bits of alt-folk very much akin to the Roches' '70s and '80s flirtations with art rock, new wave and modern jazz.
The title track in particular, a pop/rock gem with slightly neurotic lyrics about makeovers, would fit perfectly on the New York sisters' albums.
On its own merits, Touch Up has its flaws -- Ryan's weak lead vocals, some distractingly gimmicky vocal arrangements that seem to be hiding the album's less melodically developed songs -- but they're offset by the trio's likeably odd lyrical obsessions and playful ease.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dirty TownMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 02:32 | 5 MB | 16 MB |
| 2 | PolynesiaMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 02:20 | 5 MB | 15 MB |
| 3 | Angry SeaMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 03:05 | 7 MB | 16 MB |
| 4 | Oh AnaMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 19 MB |
| 5 | Legs AwayMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 03:53 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 6 | Love and TruthMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 03:35 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 7 | Train of ThoughtMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 02:41 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 8 | VerbatimMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 02:48 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 9 | NeighbourMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 04:39 | 10 MB | 29 MB |
| 10 | Ball CapMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 03:20 | 7 MB | 19 MB |
| 11 | Tic TocMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 01:31 | 3 MB | 9 MB |
| 12 | Touch UpMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 13 | Little HandsMother Mother | Mother Mother | Play | 02:27 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 40 mins | 91 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 246 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Comparelli | Trumpet |
| 2 | Kurt Dahle | Drums |
| 3 | Molly Guldemond | Artwork, Design, Group Member, Vocals |
| 4 | Ryan Guldemond | Group Member, Guitar, Percussion, Synthesizer, Vocals |
| 5 | Kenton Loewen | Drums, Group Member |
| 6 | Mother Mother | Audio Production, Composer, Primary Artist |
| 7 | Jeremy Page | Artwork, Bass, Clarinet, Design, Group Member, Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor) |
| 8 | Shawn Penner | Engineer |
| 9 | Howard Redekopp | Audio Engineer, Audio Production, Bass, Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 10 | David Spidel | Bass, Double Bass |
| 11 | Craig Waddell | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |