Evil Mothers
Spider Sex and Car Wrecks (Invisible)
by Chris Best
I don’t think I ever gave the Evil Mothers much attention before this record. I mean, I had heard them before, but they never made much of an impression. This album did make an impression and now I’m thinking I’ve been missing out on something good. This is an amazingly varied album that’s surprisingly short on clichés. This works in their favor only if the listener is able to give the record the chance it deserves.
The first time I listened I found it hard to pay attention to. It wasn’t until track 6 (“Backbiter”) that it connected. After that, the rest of the album was a joy. Thinking there was something I’d missed, I played it again. Yeah, the whole album is great, I just didn’t get it on the first listen. The overall sound is built from between the rhythm and the vocals. Too often the rhythm takes over in a bad way. What I mean is that the rhythm is all there is and the words are meaningless and forced upon an overbearing low-end backdrop. The Evil Mothers, on the other hand, know how to write songs. Better yet is the fact that the songs are both cerebral and catchy as hell.
One thing that I don’t like, and trust me when I say this is fairly petty, is the trendiness of some of the subject matter. The “Car Wrecks” in the album title allude to J.G. Ballard’s Crash, a book about folks who get wood from auto accidents. It’s a lot more involved than that, but I’ll spare you my interpretation. Anyway, the “trendiness” comes in when one realizes that the movie version of Crash is being released in the States real soon (though it’s been in foreign release for a year). The controversy surrounding this film (sex sex sex injured folks sex sex sex wound penetration sex sex sex) makes it an easy target for musical inspiration by an arty band gone very bad. Fortunately, things don’t go bad. The record is brilliant, at all times intense and emotional. Even when the Evil Mothers play soft, they can’t help but be heavy; it’s like bikers being gentle, it doesn’t happen.
This is a great record, go get it.
