“Render Another Ugly Method” by Mothers

Live in Portland October 16, 2018 | Liquor Store

With a dark, wispy beauty, Mothers is about to release another masterpiece into the wild. Render Another Ugly Method is a true work of art with soft drony melodies and poignant, poetically political lyrics. Each song title is written fully in capital letters, as if to shout the importance of each message to the world.

Mothers stems from Athens, Georgia and is a full body compiled of Kristine Leschper, Matthew Anderegg, Chris Goggins and Garrett Burke. Leschper, the mother of Mothers, originally kicked off the piece as a solo project as an art student in 2013. Everything about the band screams artist, from the messy collage album art that looks like the desk and/or mind of a creative animal, to the twists and turns of each serenely crafted melody.

“BEAUTY ROUTINE” slowly opens the album doors as a melancholic outcry against beauty standards and norms. “Tell me how happy I could be,” Leschper cries slowly into an echo, amid short guitar plucks and slow tom and cymbal hits. The song picks up, ending on a sardonic punch in the gut: “Show me a beauty routine/to erase me completely.”

While not specifically discussing gender, the contents of much of the album seems to touch on the experience of being female in a world with off-putting standards. “BLAME KIT” appears to be a dark image of shame culture surrounding women and their bodies. Oh, not to mention the stress of having to absorb these norms tossed from all directions, a body full of criticisms, other’s ideals, expected never to spit out a word. “Not the first time/I’ve watched her body expand/A hundred times its size/To contain everything/Your subtle detachment/Spit straight from the mouth of/A modern blame kit.”