Momma Discusses Friendship, New Album, and the Complexities of Touring

Welcome to My Blue Sky paperwork the tumultuous and emotional expertise of Momma’s tour in the summertime of 2022. How a lot and what sort of vulnerability and intimacy can listeners anticipate to listen to on this album?

Allegra: That is undoubtedly our most susceptible album but. There actually wasn’t something off limits—we sort of naked all of it. It was actually scary to jot down about our personal shortcomings and flaws. There are undoubtedly a whole lot of moments on this file the place we acknowledge how egocentric we each have been throughout that point and the way we ended up hurting folks we actually liked and cared about. That was undoubtedly the toughest factor to jot down about.

You have talked about attempting to jot down catchy songs in earlier interviews, and catchy hooks and choruses are undoubtedly a staple of Momma’s music. How do you steadiness susceptible songwriting with memorable melodies and lyrics?

Allegra: That is a extremely good query. I believe we’re very hook pushed as songwriters, so with out tooting our personal horns an excessive amount of, it does come naturally. However I might say the poppier songs on this file, whereas they’re nonetheless susceptible, are about happier instances and have a extra constructive outlook, so it is easy to jot down a superb hook or a catchy refrain that captures that feeling. The extra melancholy songs, like “Take Me With You” and “My Outdated Avenue” are slightly extra free-form and never as hook centered. I believe “Welcome to My Blue Sky,” the music, captures the steadiness between catchiness and vulnerability the very best. In the event you’re writing from the center and being sincere 100% of the time, it is easy to search out that steadiness.

Etta: As a lot as discovering the steadiness between vulnerability and catchiness can really feel pure when the content material of the music you are writing additionally toes that line, I believe we additionally very a lot look as much as lyricists who do this fairly nicely—Joni Mitchell and Elliott Smith are two examples.

Have been there any main variations in the way you approached making Blue Sky as in comparison with earlier albums? How has your songwriting and the band advanced over the past a number of years?

Allegra: Sure. I might say the most important distinction is that Etta and I wrote a whole lot of these songs collectively on an acoustic guitar. That gave us the liberty to actually deal with the lyrics and made these songs really feel much more intimate. Our songwriting has undoubtedly advanced rather a lot through the years, however the core of Momma is at all times going to be the connection that Etta and I’ve as mates and collaborators. That may by no means change.

Etta: Agreed. The method of writing the file so intimately actually felt like we have been tapping again into how we used to jot down songs after we first met one another. Our relationship to one another in life and in music is so symbiotic. I do not suppose that may ever change whatever the private development we could expertise individually. I believe that’s actually lovely.

What was your favourite a part of making the album? What was probably the most difficult?

Allegra: My favourite a part of making the file was undoubtedly the songwriting stage. Going into the studio and recording a file is de facto tense and exhausting. However whenever you’re nonetheless within the strategy of writing, issues nonetheless really feel new and contemporary, and you continue to have that spark in you. Probably the most difficult was most likely recording vocals. That at all times takes a toll on you, and in the event you’re not feeling it in the future it is actually exhausting to push via.

Etta: Recording vocals is at all times probably the most tense a part of making the album! This time round we sort of bought into the swing of understanding how every of our voices fare all through the day, although. On the flipside, my favourite a part of making the album was most likely starting to grasp that now we have good instinct through the writing course of. So, like Allegra, I might additionally say the writing course of. We have been simply actually good at not harping on one concept for too lengthy. I believe it’s tremendous simple to let your self snowball by choosing at one thing for too lengthy. As quickly as an concept did not really feel good – or did not really feel “proper” – we tabled it. We did not actually put that into follow on earlier data.

There’s been a whole lot of comparability between Momma and ’90s grunge bands, like Veruca Salt and Nirvana. You have said in earlier interviews that these comparisons are getting outdated. What are probably the most important methods through which you’re feeling your music and elegance deviate from these bands?

Allegra: As a lot as we love these bands, we actually hate these comparisons. Particularly to Veruca Salt. Louise Publish and Nina Gordon are enormous enormous inspirations for us. We have really gotten to know Louise through the years, and he or she is a gem of a human—so candy and supportive. However the comparability is beginning to really feel actually tiring. I hear it extra in Family Title, however there are such a lot of manufacturing flairs on Welcome to My Blue Sky that I believe are actually totally different from something in Veruca Salt’s discography. I believe generally we’re only a lot much less grunge-sounding than folks make us out to be, and the songs which can be heavier on this file sound far more emo to me than grunge. Veruca is understood for his or her shredding guitar solos, and there is not likely a whole lot of that on this file. There’s additionally a whole lot of acoustic guitar. Individuals simply hear two femme voices and make that comparability straight away, but it surely’s so frequent that it is beginning to really feel slightly misogynistic. We have now very totally different writing kinds, and the manufacturing could be very totally different as nicely.

Who or what are a few of your present inspirations, and the place or how does inspiration normally strike you?

Allegra: Hovvdy is the very best up to date band on the market proper now. I additionally love Slim Head, Deadharrie, and Alex G. Inspiration nearly at all times strikes after I’m coping with romantic upheaval. I simply discover it very easy to jot down about, and I actually benefit from the feeling of writing a music for somebody figuring out that they are going to hear it in the future, and so they’ll lastly get to listen to precisely how I am feeling.

Etta: Hovvdy, Alex G, Feeble Little Horse, That is Lorelei, and Snail Mail are all bands that I might take into account inspirational simply as a result of their songwriting abilities, their abilities in manufacturing, and so on. It is tremendous fascinating to me to see how totally different folks in your subject sort out writing a music, or going via a launch cycle or tour.

As bandmates who’ve recognized one another since highschool, how would you describe the best way making music collectively influences your relationship and vice versa? Do you typically discover yourselves in dialog with one another (or others in your life) via songs?

Allegra: Sure, “Bottle Blonde” is a good instance of that. We’re speaking to our previous selves, but additionally speaking to one another. We’re so shut exterior of writing music collectively, however with the ability to have a inventive relationship as nicely has made our bond a lot stronger. It seems like we converse a secret language.

Etta: A secret language is one of the simplest ways to explain it, for my part. Each creatively and personally understanding somebody to the purpose of with the ability to end one another’s sentences seems like a reasonably good definition. I suppose I am not too positive how else to explain that closeness as a result of it feels very uncommon.

What are you most enthusiastic about to your upcoming tour? Are there any tales, inside jokes, or moments from previous excursions which can be particular to you?

Allegra: I am actually excited to see what shenanigans we get into. We at all times handle to have a enjoyable time on tour, even when the tour just isn’t going so nice. We simply actually take pleasure in one another’s firm and make one another giggle on a regular basis. We have now inside jokes from previous excursions which can be canon in our communication now. We have solely ever achieved this on assist excursions, however we would make a Tour Bingo for this headline. It is primarily dares and totally different targets you need to meet, and whoever will get BINGO first receives everybody’s buyout for the night time.

What have you ever been listening to as you put together for the tour?

Allegra: I have been listening to a whole lot of Graham Hunt. I am bumping Wishy and Brennan Wedl, who we’re bringing out with us and can get to see each night time. I am at all times listening to Tom Petty. I additionally simply discovered this band referred to as Ex-Pilots and so they’re superb.

Etta: Wishy and Brennan for positive! Currently, I’ve had a reasonably bizarre vary of artists I am listening to…the three I am going to spotlight are: Doechii, Neil Younger, MBV. Oh, and Kim Deal’s new file!

Welcome to My Blue Sky is out April 4th and accessible for buy right here.