Two decades into their career, Mother Mother isn’t chasing trends — they’re chasing feelings.
The Vancouver-born alt-rock outfit — Ryan Guldemond (vocals/guitar), Molly Guldemond (vocals/synths), Jasmin Parkin (vocals/keys), Ali Siadat (drums), and Mike Young (bass) — just dropped their tenth studio album Nostalgia via Warner Records, a record that celebrates both their 20th anniversary and a renewed sense of artistic freedom. It’s heartfelt, dark, and joyously weird, weaving themes of alienation, existentialism, self-love, self-hate, gender roles, and spirituality through mythical imagery and surreal soundscapes.
And yes — there’s a unicorn on the cover.
“It should harken back to childhood, where there’s no boundaries and you believe in the fantastical,” frontman Ryan Guldemond tells Celeb Secrets over the phone, noting it’s the first animal to grace their cover since 2011’s Eureka. “That’s what nostalgia is about — it’s a dream feeling. We go back and look at the past through the lens of cinema, we embellish it. The unicorn stands for that.”
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If Nostalgia feels like a return to form for Mother Mother, that’s because it is — literally. Guldemond says the band created the album by evaluating every creative choice solely by its emotional impact. “Every decision should be measured by the extent to which it moves you and activates your heart,” he explains. “Somewhere along the way, most artists forget that. But at 20 years in, we remembered — and we’ll never go back to making art based on commerciality.”
That commitment to emotional truth led to bold creative moves. Midway through recording, the band scrapped months of work, redoing all the drums, bass, and much of the guitar. “Finally this is feeling right,” Ryan recalls of that turning point. “That was a powerful moment.”
The result is an indie record that “offers more while having less,” moving away from the over-compressed, wall-of-sound approach in favor of big dynamics and breathing space. “One sound is bigger when you turn it up versus layering three and turning them all down,” Guldemond says with a laugh.
Nostalgia blends brand-new material with long-shelved ideas, giving fans plenty of Easter eggs. Opener “Love to Death” was first demoed during 2008’s O My Heart sessions. The playfully brazen “FINGER” — now a live showstopper — is actually the oldest Mother Mother song ever released, written over 20 years ago. And the centerpiece “ON AND ON (Song for Jasmin)” is a platonic love letter from Guldemond to bandmate Jasmin Parkin, chronicling their evolution from romantic partners to lifelong friends and collaborators.
Lead single “Make Believe” captures Mother Mother’s signature mix of the surreal and the sincere. “It’s a sonic and lyrical acid trip through fantasy and imagination,” Guldemond says. “As I get older, it’s not that I believe more in magic — I just act more as though I believe in magic.”
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Perhaps the most surprising part? Guldemond actually loves this album. “Every record until this one, I get to the end and I can’t listen to it — there’s too much trauma attached to the process,” he admits. “But this record… I could celebrate it. That was a positive shift.”
That shift isn’t just personal — it’s relational. After two decades together (and plenty of early blowouts between Ryan and his sister Molly), the band has learned exactly how to keep the peace. “We all have a collective psychic understanding of what we need so as not to stir the pot,” Guldemond says. “That spills into the studio and makes for much easier record-making processes. It’s no wonder bands break up — but we resisted.”
And yes, even with Nostalgia just out, the next chapter is already starting. A new song — written on tour — has sparked the path forward. “It’s very different, very big, with a worldly tang. Definitely doesn’t sound like it comes from Canada,” Guldemond teases.
But whatever’s next, the spark remains the same. “The creative process still gives me butterflies,” he says. “You wake up, grab a guitar, and stumble into something that could change your life. Five minutes ago, there was nothing. Then all of a sudden, there’s that.”
Nostalgia is out now on all music streaming platforms.
