Mother Mother grows up

It’s 8 a.m. in Vancouver and Ryan Guldemond, lead singer for indie pop act Mother Mother, is wide awake. “I’m an early riser,” says the chipper vocalist. His alertness is impressive considering most musicians don’t wake up before noon. “Maybe I’d sleep in ten years ago, but I have to get stuff done now,” he says.

So what’s keeping the Quadra Island, B.C.-born artist busy? “I’m getting a haircut,” he says over the phone. “And I have to write a set list.”

Guldemond might be getting ahead of himself on this last task — the band doesn’t start its cross-Canada tour until October — but he views things differently. With a new album now in stores, the guitarist has two albums of material to choose from and he’s planning “longer, more orchestrated” shows. “I want to put some thought into this,” he says.

If he wants any advice, it’s stack the set with new songs, as the five-piece (which also includes Molly Guldemond, Debra-Jean Creelman, Jeremy Page and Ali Siadat) have written one of the more captivating pop albums of the year. Unlike Touch Up, their critically acclaimed debut, which dabbled in pop, folk and, occasionally, jazz, O My Heart is a record of complex, New Pornographers-like rock.

“It’s more modern,” says Guldemond. “There were a lot of things all over the first record, but we can’t do a mishmash everytime. Touch Up was cool in that it was eclectic and there were different genres people could draw from, but doing that again would have been redundant.”

With sophisticated, pristine pop and layered boy-girl harmonies, it’s hard to imagine O My Heart not being embraced by a plethora of new fans. But, Guldemond admits that it’s not the perfect record. “You go through spells of hating the whole thing, and the week after you mix and master it you hear it for what it is and appreciate it. You’ve got to come to love the imperfection because they’re there to stay.”

The goal for Mother Mother isn’t to write a mistake free disc anyway, they want their live performance to outdo anything they’ve recorded. “We spend more time living and breathing the songs in a live format so it’s only inevitable that they will get to greater heights than what’s on the album,” Guldemond explains.

Until their first show in October though, Guldemond can’t help but be a bit apprehensive about how people will take to Mother Mother’s more straight ahead sound. “I’m excited and nervous,” he says. “I guess everybody fears rejection, me included.”