Mother May I is a power pop/rock band from Washington, D.C.  If you want to know all about their history, I wrote extensively about my adoration of the band here on Pencil Storm previously (Pencil Storm & Proust, Remembrance of Bands Past, part the second: Mother May I - by JCE — Pencil Storm).  The band released four amazing records between 1994 and 2001.  Splitsville, from 1995, was their one & only major label release, from Columbia records.  The last release was a set of demos that came out in 2001 that are fantastic.  The band has been entirely inactive since then, with the exception of a single reunion gig in Arlington, VA at the Iota Club that took place in 2010.  So here we are decades after their last record, and out of nowhere comes a brilliant new effort.

Mother May I has just released People Just Wanna Hear the Hits.  The record was announced on social media, showed up on Bandcamp, and as of October 6, 2023, is streaming everywhere.  The record features the true core of the band, Rob Lebourdais on drums & backing vocals, and Damon Hennessey on guitar & lead vocals.  Past members Lars Gustaffson and Graham McCulloch pitch in on bass.  The record contains ten brand new, shiny and beautiful tracks.  Here is my take, track-by-track:

TRACK 1 – Rabbit – This track landed on YouTube before any of the others were out.  I listened to it and instantly knew that I was going to love this new record.  The record has a good mix of what I call rockers versus more introspective sounding tunes.  Not to say that any of it is terribly slow, but this one is a rocker and it is probably my second favorite track.

TRACK 2 – Fuck This Town – Track number two is another of the rockers.  The lyrics are great.  As the name implies, this is a great “go to hell” song.  This is my favorite track on the record.

TRACK 3 – The Rope – Track three is the first of the slower songs.  It’s not slow, just slower.  It’s a really good song for sure, a strong track. I would say maybe my fifth or sixth favorite.

TRACK 4 – Modern Living – Did I say how great the lyrics are in all of these songs?  Wow.  This is another strong track. I’d rank this one along with track three, middle to lower middle of the pack on this record.

TRACK 5 – Come Down – This track actually is a bit slow.  It’s a pretty song, and far from a throwaway, but one of my least favorites on this record.

TRACK 6 – How Sweet the Sound – This one is a rocker that picks up steam as it goes along.  By the end of the song, the chorus is reaching a peak and to me, it sounds like the Mother May I of 1995.  This is probably my third favorite track after tracks one and two.

TRACK 7 – Cheesecake – This is an upbeat song.  I dig it, although I can’t pinpoint anything in particular that draws me to it.  It’s about my fourth or fifth favorite track.

TRACK 8 – Now’s the Time – This would be the second slow song on the record.  Whatever I said about track five applies to this one too.

TRACK 9 – The Steps – This track is a cover song by the female pop band Haim.  I would not have known that if I hadn’t become familiar with the song after reading Pencil Storm mastermind Colin Gawel’s piece all about the song here: This Song! Oscars Edition; “The Steps” by Haim — Pencil Storm.  It’s a really great song to begin with, and when played by one of my favorite bands, it’s even better.

TRACK 10 – Thicker Skin – The last track on the record starts out good.  Jangle pop comes to mind, but with the trademark Mother May I edge that makes all of their songs rock just a little harder than you think they will.  I would put it middle of the pack on this record with one major caveat.  That caveat is that at the 2:35 mark, the song is over for me.  It runs 6:46, but the entire last four minutes is all instrumental and just not what I want to hear.  I use the options available on Apple Music to simply end it at about 2:40 in my music library.

So aside from my distaste for almost any song that lasts longer than five minutes, and my even greater distaste for long stretches of guitar noodling, both of which are features of the final track, I would say the record is pretty damn great from start to finish.  Five out of five stars, and in my top ten records for 2023. Happy listening Pencil Stormers…..

JCE, or John to his friends, was born in the Nation’s Capital.  He grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C.  His earliest musical memories are tied to a transistor radio with a single earphone that he carried everywhere listening to AM radio.  He is well versed in the D.C. music scene from around 1980 onward.  He just turned 60 years old, he has a wife of 32 years, and a grown daughter.