Album Review: Mothers - When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired
By Devon Hannan, Features Editor
[Wichita; 2016]
Rating: 8.5/10
Key Tracks: “Too Small For Eyes,” “Lockjaw,” “Hold Your Own Hand”
Twinkly emo and indie folk--just a few of our favorite things. If you didn’t think this kind of thing existed, it definitely does, and surprisingly, just like salty fries and vanilla ice cream, they go very well together. When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired is a fantastic example that describes the Georgia band Mothers as “not quite folk, not quite math rock," but something beautifully in-between.
The album immediately catapults the listener into a sea of emotion and wistfulness with its opening track “Too Small for Eyes.” Intricate, twinkling strings back the audience’s first taste of Kristine Leschpher’s angelic vocals. The first impression of the album lingers from beginning to end.
While still keeping a (sometimes very) light touch of twang, the album progressively adds intensity. While no track is quite as beautiful and dainty as the opener, every song contains its own story along with its own sound. “Copper Mines” completely ditches the sorrowful tonality and instead swaps mandolins for an electric guitar. “Lockjaw” serves as the climax of the album, incorporating heavier percussion and bass lines. It makes the listener almost forget that a violin was used in the first track... almost.
The final track, “Hold Your Own Hand” comes back to the gentle, delicate sensation of the beginning. Leschpher’s lullabies are a lot less folk-esque at this point, however, the atmospheric-ness remains.
While each song on the album differs significantly, it contains just the right amount of balance to flow cohesively. When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired takes the audience on a journey through hurt, betrayal, and forgiveness. It immerses the listener into a very specific feeling that can’t precisely be described; possibly that of when you’re riding on some kind of public transportation and you realize that the skyscrapers are very big, and you are very small. However, you remember that people just like you made those skyscrapers and while you still feel small, you don’t feel quite as inadequate.
In other words, it’s really dang good.
