Lala Lala and Mothers, two indie rock bands who each have a interesting and fresh take on the genre, played at Songbyrd Music House on Friday, Sept. 21. Lala Lala was the opening act for Mothers.
Lala Lala is a Chicago-based group led by Lillie West, a tortured 24-year-old that finds strength rin her songwriting. She is often able to explain things through song that she couldn’t possibly say with just words. Her lyrics address address hardships she’s experienced in her young life, including addiction, loss of loved ones and her iminent insecurity.
Lala Lala played some new singles released a couple weeks ago, "Dove", "Water Over Sex", and "Destroyer." Also, they played some songs from their 2016 album, "Sleepyhead" and some of their new album, "The Lamb" which was released on Friday, Sept. 28th.
The audience seemed to be more excited about the opener than the headliner. A slew of people left after Lala Lala finished their set. This wasn’t too surprising since Lala Lala has a larger following than Mothers. Lala Lala exemplifies tasteful grunge culture with elements of punk, but also has chilling vocals. Mothers is also an indie rock band, but they substitute punk for folk. However, they aren’t a standard folk band because they also have elements of experimental rock, often using a synthesizer and playing certain accompanant on loop.
Mothers was formed originally as a solo project in Athens, Georgia when singer/songwriter Kristine Leschper was attending Lamar Dodd School Of Art. In Georgia, she gained a loyal following, and she decided to to launch Mothers as a touring band.
Mothers performed songs off of "Render Another Ugly Method", which was released in 2018 and "When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired", which was released in 2016. One song that Mothers played was “It Hurts Until It Doesn’t”. Leschper explains the song in an interview with Stereogum. The song is “essentially kind of a battle — the internal struggle between ego and self doubt, which is something that I find myself thinking about a lot.”
The crowd was receptive of both bands. Everyone was headbanging and the show was packed, with more and more people arriving at the venue each minute.
Both bands sounded very much like their released music while performing live, something that is pretty consistent with indie rock bands because there isn’t an expectation to be perfect like there is in pop music. The talking between songs was a little awkward and they didn’t seem comfortable or aware of what to do, but both bands were very much in their element when they were performing.
