The Mommyheads Release Two New Music Videos from Upcoming Albums

Art pop legends the Mommyheads have released two videos from their new album. Clever claymation clips for the songs "Woke Up A Scientist" and "Mutual Enemy" arrive as the band gets ready to celebrate the reissue of 1994's Bingham's Hole as well as the release of their brand new record, Future You, on the same day, September 6, 2019. Last month Brooklyn Vegan premiered "Woke Up A Scientist," and earlier this month Magnet gave the world its first peak at "Mutual Enemy."

"'That's the best music video EVER MADE!!!' proclaims my 10 year old daughter," main Mommyhead Adam told Brooklyn Vegan. "She is a little biased, considering she was the Set Designer on the video and had also never seen 'SledgeHammer' by Peter Gabriel. What better way to visually depict a song about innocence and inspiration, than to use stop-motion animation to bring all the toys in our house to life? There are 50 separate scenes, each taking three to four hours to shoot. That's 150-200 hours of filming! That said, this video was was a true labor of love to make." When the premiere originally posted, the band sent $1 per view, up to 1,000 views, to Vieques Humane Society, a Puerto Rican animal shelter whose mission has proved even more important in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

"'Mutual Enemy' was also a labor of love,'" Elk told Magnet. "It's a take on the current geo-political climate using the same stop-motion technique using animated toys? Spoiler alert: We give Robert Mueller a chance to tell us how he really feels at 2:16."

"The Bingham's Hole record was a snapshot of the Mommyheads, as we were firing on all cylinders back in 94," continues Elk. "Counterpunching our way through the popular music trend's of the day with a young Peter Katis manning the helm of his first production. Hopefully, Future You will be a complimentary 25-year spanning bookend to our long and melodic lifespan."

Fast-forward 25 years: 2019 finds the Mommyheads pairing a reissue of Bingham's Hole with their forthcoming 10th full-length, Future You. In many ways a spiritual sequel to Bingham's Hole, Future You finds the band in a similar place of comfort and mastery in their seamless channeling of eclectic influences. Except this time around, all those influences are present; the band has nothing to hide, and flecks of their 70s heroes are on full effortless display.

Besides the aforementioned opener "Woke Up A Scientist," other highlights include "The Hound," a piercing summation of the ever-growing tension felt by those struggling to wear a happy face despite the existential pain of 21st century American life. "Should we sell each other out?" is the question the chorus poses, and it all feels like a long-lost rock opera theme with its monolithic synth sweeps and deliberate subversion of Rush's "Tom Sawyer." It's a tasteful homage that arrives again in the yearning, clave-laden pulse of "Stockholm", a tribute to the land of the Mommyheads' most rabid cult following.

This delicate, fractured beauty has become a penchant for the Mommyheads and a staple of their sound, and to hear these songs alongside the willful prog extravagance that drives Future Yousignifies the band coming full circle. Together they've assimilated their myriad influences from the 1970s onward to construct an album that's full-bodied in both its array of sounds/ideas and in its highlighting the suffering of the planet.

The 70s influences act as a reminder of the fact that these are musicians amidst adulthood in America; they grew up witnessing the ecological damage done and the loss of humanitarian values, and now they have kids of their own. Paired with their previous full-length Soundtrack to the World's End (2018), the band has redefined themselves through a devotion to cautionary songwriting for the human condition, and their pain is pure and tangible. Their seamless melding of old and new on this album is thus rendered all the more poignant, both in the context of the band's history, and by extension, where we all were then and now.