‘Mother,’ written by Sarah Hollins and produced by Erik Kertes (Michael Buble, Shakira, Melissa Etheridge, Jewel, Margaret Cho) is an alt 90’s rock inspired female rage anthem about how women’s rage sits underneath the surface and we don’t act on it the way that men do. Women often do not choose violence in response to the behavior of their male oppressors and aggressors. In a current political and cultural landscape where women are being arrested and jailed for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, a song like ‘Mother’ is a protest to the reality of these injustices. (“There’s free will and then there’s me/Inevitably, Mother”). It also has some snarky/harsher moments where it addresses the violence and control that women experience at the hands of men (“If you’d move, I’d have room to loosen my hips, widen my thighs/You’d kill all of us just to slip inside) and (“I never even bit it/Take your apple and stick it/Hey, baby open wide, swallow and smile”).
The song was based around a rhythmic guitar part that Sarah wrote and brought into the studio. Sarah played it on a vintage acoustic guitar and then Erik distorted the part and added extra layers of acoustic and electric guitar and bass. Sarah wanted to add touches of metal guitar to add some teeth to the song and pay homage to the influence that her favorite band, Coheed and Cambria, has had on her music. Erik brought in AJ Minette to add metal guitar parts over the parts Sarah and Erik performed. AJ’s parts really stand out and help the track and its message hit harder. The various guitar parts were changed, rearranged, and fine tuned many times before the final mix, a process that helped shape the song into something fresh that really showcases different layers and types of highly technical guitar playing. Pushing the guitar work to a more technical place was important to both Erik and Sarah who have been playing in bands since they were teens.
In a modern musical landscape where many songs are simpler with less layered instruments, smaller melodies, and easy messaging, Sarah aims to address that with more technical guitar parts, challenging songwriting themes and messaging, and exciting sonic choices that ask listeners to open their minds to both new and tried and true ways of creating and listening to music.
