Mother Yeti is a duo from Moscow, Idaho that describes its sound as “experimental rock”. Experimental is a term that sometimes scares music fans away because they equate experimental with weird. That’s not necessarily incorrect, but it does make the assumption that weird is undesirable.
If you keep an open mind, you might be pleasantly surprised by what Mother Yeti has to offer. An experimental rock band might be non-standard, but at the same time, it may not be like other experimental bands that have turned you off. The term experimental might just mean that the band isn’t content to fit nicely into one little box and wants to dabble in a variety of sounds. On their new album My Best Please, Mother Yeti shows that it can’t be confined to one genre.
Right off the bat, you can hear that this band is influenced by 60s rock. The melody of “Someone’s Happy” has the psychedelic feel of a song from the late 60s. At the same time, there is something reminiscent of Frank Zappa when you hear the la la la la la of the backing vocals. You also hear some 60s influence in the title track. Specifically, the vocals in the title track sound a lot like some long-forgotten track by The Kinks. Meanwhile, the guitar provides a spacey, psychedelic sort of tone.
It is refreshing how easily this band can bounce from one sound to another. While there is plenty of 60s influence with some tones that lean heavily toward the psychedelic, the band doesn’t completely live in 60s rock. “Wanted It Funny” is a good example of the breadth of this band’s influences. It is an uptempo song whose distorted guitar and overall feel recalls bands like Dinosaur Jr. You especially hear it in the raucous instrumental break at the end of the song.
This band moves so quickly and easy from one sound to the next that you never really know what to expect. “Roller Blade Shades” combines a rock guitar riff with falsetto vocals and a funky rhythm that makes you feel like you’re listening to a Quick and Easy Boys song.
In just 12 songs, this band covers more musical ground than a lot of bands do in a decade. Each song leads you down a different musical path, and that’s not a bad thing. Yes, experimental really is the best way to describe this band’s sound. However, that shouldn’t be enough to scare you away. If it is, you’re missing out on a band that has no desire to make every song sound the same. That’s a refreshing thing, especially when you consider how much cookie-cutter music is produced.
