Friday 6/26: Mother Tongues—"Let You Down"
Today, we share our thoughts on "Let You Down"by the Toronto psych-rock band Mother Tongues.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on "Let You Down"by the Toronto psych-rock band Mother Tongues.
Mother Tongues—"Let You Down"
Eric Bennett:
It’s so easy to make psych-rock feel cheesy. Legions of Tame Impala soundalikes took that dorm-friendly sound and made knockoffs through the 2010’s. What started out as a cool, accessible genre became overplayed and pretty joyless. That movement has mostly gone away, but the reputation is remembered. Mother Tongues’ new single “Let You Down” is a reminder of how fucking great psych-rock is at its best. It feels like they’ve packed in an entire world’s worth of sounds to explore. Grand, sweeping synths, fuzzed-out, warped guitar, and vocals that echo on forever. Mother Tongues are instantly an act to watch, and breath some much needed life—and fun—into the tradition of their craft.
Eli Enis:
To offer a gentle counter to my fine colleague Eric, I will say that Mother Tongues tinker with much more than just psych-rock on this ripper of a track. On the first half of “Let You Down”, the Toronto quartet bask in the sort of sunny, ‘60s pop that a band like La Luz might write today, and yes, they sound excellent while doing it. However, by its halfway point, the song introduces a fiery lead guitar lick, and louder more abrasive elements. A breakdown of sorts ensues that verges on shoegaze adorned with tremolo’d clean guitars and melty vocal “ah”’s, and then the final 45 seconds transition into a bright math-rock lick dancing atop spastic drums. That might read like a whirlwind, but Mother Tongues make all of those elements flow seamlessly into one another and it’s a total trip to take in. It’s pretty fucking crazy that this is just their second single, because they already have the chemistry of a band that’s four records in.