Words by Jason Lee. Photos by Stephen Perry.
There’s a theory on why the syllable “ma-“ and all its various variations/elongations are used around the world as the word for what we call mother as in madre (Spanish & Italian), mère (French), mǔqīn (Mandarin), māṃ (Hindustani), mutter (German), muter (Yiddish), máthair (Irish), amma (Sanskrit), móðir (Icelandic), mama (Swahili) etc. etc. with “ma-” being one of the first utterances most babies learn to make and ma-ma-ma-ma-ma routinely issued from their colic-y little mouths to summon their mothers which is a sound that can be formed even with a breast or baby-bottle stuffed into one’s piehole…
….meaning that babies first means of communicating with their mothers and others is thru pure sound well before any linguistic meaning gets attached in a manner very similar to what we know as music whereas for their part moms are prone to cooing and using “baby talk” to reciprocate in communicating with their little bundles of meat, blood, bones and hair not to mention singing lullabies and other lulling types of tunes to the little tykes with most of us having heard our very first music IRL from our mothers…
…with the bigger point here being that music and motherhood are joined at the hip, in a manner of speaking, from the very beginning or as singer/guitarist Rebecca Keith puts it in introducing The Roulettes‘ new six-song long-player to the world which happens to be called Mommy Comes Back with the band re-formed after a substantial hiatus (their first record in 20 years?!?) and with R.K. having become a mother in the interim issuing the following statement:
<<Mommy Comes Back means raising our daughters while continuing to raise ourselves. Mommy Comes Back means intergenerational music-making, celebration, and resistance. We work with our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our friends. We honor the women who came before us, who are still going, who might just be thinking of picking up an instrument. We learn from each other and hold each other up.>>
…and indeed since writing and recording the new record with bandmates Alice Danger (bass guitar, vox) and Rachel Hass (drums, vox) plus playing a bunch of local gigs besides (including the official record launch celebration tonight at Main Drag Music) this mission statement has been put into action of passing along a maternal musical inheritance…
…and fortunately the Roulettes are adept at writing lean, urgent yet playful ditties full of taut melodicism, turn-on-a-dime dynamics and tightly-woven textures that are mother’s milk to the ears even for adults esp. those inclined to the sonics and political stances of classic riot grrrl and queercore bands like on opening track “Batter Up” for instance which serves as a call-to-arms for all those who feel like they’ve been stuck in the batter’s box for too long…
<<Mommy Comes Back means struggling to conceive and struggling with maternal ambivalence and anxiety all at once. It means pushing through when you body and mind have already given everything. It means pushing back against the culture of perfectionism in parenting. It means not letting motherhood crush your creativity and your ambitions for yourself.>>
…with the record moving from the anthemic strains of “Batter Up” to the twisty, intertwined melodic lines of “Honolulu” that may just make you wanna take up hula dancing except by the end you’ll be moshing instead leading into the trilling tones of “Access” with Rachel beating out some primal tom-tom rhythms as Alice lays down some cascading up-the-neck work on bass that’ll make you wanna nod your own neck and then comes “Ineffective” with its lullaby-like intro (“I…will…salvage…you”) segueing into a resolute minor-key stomp and hey we’ve got a direct quote on this one with Rebecca drawing upon her experience as a professional teacher…
<<“Ineffective” is a deeply personal song about the abuse of power by administrators in the education system, though it can be applied to (often unqualified) people wielding power in any field/area of life. It speaks directly to the teacher observation system that, back when I was a new teacher and often still, can be particularly punitive and misused when in the wrong hands. The song is about saving/preserving/rebuilding yourself and lifting up those who are in the fight with you.>>
…next moving on to a thoughtful character study of Bill Murray called “Bill Murray” (“who you gonna call / when it’s never last call / how I’m supposed feel / when I can’t feel nothing at all?”) then finishing things off with the whisper-to-a-primal-scream of “White Coat” and allow us tol toss it back to Rebecca for the final word (appropriately so!) cuz we’re been a son but never a mother…
<<We want to be role models for our daughters in terms of living full lives, being able to nurture them and nurture ourselves and our creative desires. Our art is our child too. Mommy Comes Back means fighting against a government and a society that doesn’t care about you, or the girl you’re raising, or your sisters. It’s about paying attention and listening and telling our stories so we can’t be erased.>>
The Roulettes appear on a stacked bill tonight (10.26.24) with Tami Hart, Hard Nips, and Loveletter…
All songs written and performed by The Roulettes duh + Engineered and mixed by @elijacobobobo
except “Honolulu” engineered and mixed @jeffreyberner @studiogbrooklyn
Mastered by Alex Saltz at @apsmastering
MANY THANKS TO ALL OF THE ABOVE FOR MAKING IT SOUND GRRRREEAT!
Cover photo by Stephen Perry @theplanesnyc
Logo by @insta_kd Kate Dewitt and Aaron Gregory
Cover design by The Roulettes