Illuminating a candle to lead your way in the dark through tall grass under a starless sky with light, hope, and a grounding energy, Moon Mother has music to speak to your soul and lift the haze.  The Swedish duo combines alternative slow rock, dark folk, psychedelic rock, a hint of doom, and Nordic influence in one hauntingly atmospheric and emotive package in their latest release, Meadowlands.  While the vocal performance is the focus of the album—raw, reverberating, beautiful, and passionate—the magic created in the album includes unique sounds such as accordion, birch-trumpet, and the caws of a blackbird.  The result is enchanting.

Meadowlands carries a weight of trauma and grief that we hold within us yet it stokes the flames of hope, fighting shadows, and speaks to the power of this resilience born from darkness.  The peace found throughout the album is inspiring and listeners are led there through swaying melodies, building vocals, gentle drumming, meditative guitar, and an overflow of reverb.  The music resounds and the production is masterful, helping the tracks surround you and be felt, not just heard.  Moon Mother is Sarah Mehner (vocals, piano, guitar, lyrics, and more) and Pat Ahlström (guitar, bass, string-arrangements, and more).  Drums and percussion were included on this album by Rob Hall.  Three musicians creating this vast sound with the array of instrumentals used is impressive and speaks to the skills of the group and the attention to detail in production.

The album opens with a folk forward soft acoustic track, “High Houses,” immediately showcasing Mehner’s emotive ethereal vocals.  Directly following are the two single releases that introduced the world to Meadowlands, “It Comes With Shadows” and “World in a Glass Jar.”  Two soaring pieces that build to overflow with powerful vocals and echoing melodies.  The former escalating to a more string-heavy and melodic peak, the latter to a more riff filled rock peak. 

My favorite track on Meadowlands is “Wilderness.”  It unfurls and slowly leads to harmonizing vocals, dramatic percussion, strings, and choral backing.  The album closes with “Windhover,” where the Nordic influence is heard in the opening between the instrumentals and the cadence of Meher’s vocalization.  The atmospherics transport listeners.  The track is calming and pure, bringing everything to a peaceful and cathartic close. 

This is the duo’s sophomore album.  Moon Mother is truly a powerhouse having written, produced, and recorded the album themselves with help mixing/mastering by Hans Olsson and the added percussion by Hall. Listening to Meadowlands, while a unique release, brought to mind bands like Oldest Sea, Darkher, and Plum Green.  This is great company to be in and speaks to the hauntingly beautiful nature of Moon Mother’s sound.  I was unfamiliar with the band previously but look forward to checking out their debut while eagerly awaiting future releases.  I hope they continue to gain momentum and a well-deserved following. 

–Angela

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Meadowlands is available now on Moon Mother’s own label, Elm & Yarrow. For more information on Moon Mother visit their official website.