With a Runaways attitude and none of the gimmick,
Mobina Galore is a punk rock duo that really gets to the heart of what punk
rock is supposed to be.
The raw angst right from the get-go of their album Cities Away, the first track Skeletons really sets the stage for the first half of the album and makes the transition later on in the album even more impressive. Skeletons is complex in a humble sort of way, just complex enough to make the listener question whether it is only a duo making this music. Their lack of subtlety is as telling as anything else that this band has a message and they don’t want it muddled with any other presumptions or innuendo. “I can’t take it anymore/Take what you want from me!” The strain in Priestner’s voice and the loud, continuous, take-no-prisoners style of Hanson’s drumming and backing vocals had me hooked immediately. And this is just from the first song.
Then comes Restless Nights. Another song that does away with implication and instead allows the girls to just lay their hearts and minds on the table and let you stare at them. Going into listening and writing about Mobina Galore, I wasn’t expecting what I got. The dark, disjointed angry, honest music that I found was way more my cup of tea. Hanson’s drumming in Restless Nights is creative, cool, and above all innovative. This more than any other song on Cities Away makes it blatantly obvious how tight a band Mobina Galore is.
Pieces of You had me smiling after the first eight bars. Priestner has such an awesome punk drawl. Similar to Joan Jett but mixed with Justin Sane and Henry Rollins. That raspy, gritty, seething with anger voice that really turns heads. And then, without skipping a beat, her voice changes to an almost indistinguishable sweet girl that is pleading for you to listen. To understand. And then once again, the anger bubbles up again and Priestner slips into being a gritty punk rocker again! This solidifies my point that Mobina Galore isn’t holding anything back. They’re honest. They are who they are. They’re not putting on some act to try to look cool and sound even cooler. They’re organic and real. I like that.
One thing I didn’t really notice until the next song flowed through my speakers was that there actually was a subtlety in Mobina Galore’s music that they were hiding from me all along. Though their songs are angry, honest and in some cases kind of sad, I didn’t realize how dark and bleak some of the songs are. You’re not 23 Anymore is a dark window into a fear I’m sure many people go through. Though Priestner and Hanson don’t stray from their original sound that is now pretty well a trademark, there’s something added that at the same time doesn’t sound like them at all. Like I said, they are constantly innovating new ways to stay fresh and to continuously surprise me. The chorus has an awesome contrast of airy, melodic “ooooos” and “ahhhhhhs”, then Priestner’s rough, pained voice comes in for a brilliant crossover that I’ve honestly never heard before.
I’d actually heard and seen the video for Bad Love Song long before I had any idea who Mobina Galore was, so revisiting the song was fun and a little bit of a throwback for me. Easily the most radio-friendly track on the album, though Priestner’s trademark voice and Hanson’s amazing, always present in-you-face drums are still there, they diverge and adopt a sound similar to The Strokes. It takes anger and animosity that is present on the previous tracks and channels them into a different kind of subtle violence that the rest of Cities Away deliberately shies away from. It’s an interesting indirect way that Mobina Galore carries their message. And plus it’s catchy as hell.
2002 starts with Priestner giving us another look at her nice girl side like she did briefly in Pieces of You. She abandons her raspy punk voice, for a bit anyways, and instead gives us the voice of a sad, desperate, nostalgic, hurt girl. Describing the time she cherished that is now gone. As she recollects to this time that disappeared, as the beat and volume begin to pick up, so do the vocals, the desperation, the passion.
2002 is a unique song on the album in that the angst that is present on the rest of the tracks seems to take a break. The song instead is almost an ode. An ode to a better time and urging the listeners to cherish these moments because you never know when they’ll disappear. Mobina Galore doesn’t want us to make the same mistakes that they did. Cherish what you have now.
Although the song is more tender and sensitive than the other songs on Cities Away, the energy and sheer volume (not loud-wise but how it fills the room) of the track is as present as ever. That is one of my favourite parts of Mobina Galore. You BELIEVE them. They’re not singing cutesy songs to be liked. They’re singing and playing out events that actually happened. Through the pain comes amazing music.
Though most of the album is dark, it’s nice that Mobina Galore took a break to explore parts of life that aren’t so bad. 2002 does still have its dark corners; Mobina Galore found a dim light peeking through a window. The time is gone but the memories are forever.
The next track, Revel & Riot is another departure from the dark first half of the album. An encouraging helping hand to the audience. “You’ll be okay” is not a phrase you hear too often in new music these days. It’s encouraging that Mobina Galore drive this sentence home over and over again (dozens of times throughout the song). I lost count of how many times Priestner urges us to understand that “You’ll be okay”, but message received. It was enough to have to take a step back and maybe consider those three words when everything else in life is telling you otherwise.
The final track is another bright song with dark corners. Trying to Survive is a pretty self-explanatory song about life giving you lemons and trying to find a way to make apple juice with them. A relatable song to almost everybody. Feeling like the world is against you and there’s no way out, sometimes finding a bright side seems impossible, this closing song to a largely morose and honest album is telling us that despite all that other crap that’s going on, there is a way to find the light. A way to survive.
All-in-all, Mobina Galore is a great, loud punk band with all the attitude, ability and brutal honesty that a great punk band needs. Their constant energy that refuses to give up or sit down is palpable. You can feel it as it flows from the speakers. Not only are they great at laying themselves on the line for us to poke and prod at, you can tell they get a kick out of doing it.
The production of Cities Away is what really caught me off guard. With a loud, in your face band it’s really easy for shotty production to distract from the music and the intended sound of the band. So hat’s off to John Paul Peters and Mobina Galore for making a record that actually sounds like a record, and not something they recorded in their basement with a tape deck. It sounds as good as any album I have on my shelf… Except maybe Thriller…
If you like The Ramones, Joan Jett, Against Me!, Black Flag or anything inbetween, Mobina Galore is the place to be. They’re attitude and energy is unmatched by anyone I’ve seen on the Winnipeg music scene for a long time.
All Things Mobina Galore Below!!!
Cities Away Available Tue Dec. 9, 2014
iTunes, bandcamp, Music Trader, Into the Music
Pre-sales available at mobinagalore.bandcamp.com which includes an immediate download of Bad Love Song and You're Not 23 Anymore
facebook.com/mobinagaloremusic
www.mobinagalore.com
Album Release Show is Sat. Dec. 27 at The Park Theatre with Clipwing and Union Stockyards. $10 tickets at Into the Music, Music Trader and The Park Theatre
- Justin
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