Momma

Momma—the Brooklyn-based band led by singers/guitarists Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten—today released “Lucky,” the latest shimmering single from their highly anticipated new album Household Name due out on July 1st via Polyvinyl Record Co. in North America (Lucky Number Music for the R.O.W.). The track is out now alongside a video directed by Emma Penrose & Zack Shorrosh, and Friedman—who helms lead vocals on “Lucky”—explains, “I wrote it after my significant other and I had to spend an unknown amount of time apart from each other on opposite sides of the country. I wanted it to feel anthemic, like a sappy and sentimental love song, but I still wanted to speak on how exciting it feels to know you found true treasure with someone you are in love with.” 

“We didn’t want to get too cheesy and literal, so Etta suggested some ideas from the Green Day ‘Walking Contradiction’ video as well as the fun and etherealness of certain Beabadoobee videos,” explains director Penrose. “In the end, we feel like the video displays how much fun it was to film - everyone involved was a friend of either Zack & Emma’s or Etta & Allegra’s, so the project feels very personal and lighthearted.”

“Lucky” follows the album’s fuzzed-out and soaring lead single “Speeding 72,” co-written with Momma’s Aron Kobayashi Ritch, and two other album tracks “Rockstar” and “Medicine,” which earned praise and support upon release from Stereogum (feature), SPIN (feature), Rolling Stone, NME (First On feature), The FADER (20 Best Rock Songs Right Now), Brooklyn Vegan, Consequence (Best Songs of the Week), NPR Music (New Music Friday playlist), FLOOD, Under the Radar, and more. Household Name is available for pre-order/pre-save HERE.

Produced by Aron Kobayashi Ritch and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Emily Lazar (The Killers, Maggie Rogers), Household Name is Momma’s first full-band collaboration recorded in a proper studio that sees the band skillfully carve out their own path in today's world of alt rock. Balancing heavy riffs, deep emotions, inviting sonic production, and a lighthearted, wry sense of humor, Household Name tells the world: This is Momma.

Across the album’s 12 songs, Weingarten and Friedman cull lyrical inspiration from their own lives for the first time–a contrast with the conceptual fiction of their beloved 2020 album Two of Me. “I went through a lot of changes as we were writing and demoing this record. The biggest was that I was going through a really messy breakup, which was motivation to make this record the best it could be. I really felt like I had something to prove,” Weingarten says. “I wanted to write about heartbreak, which isn’t something we normally focus on in our lyrics. Etta and I ended up writing several songs on our own because we were having two really different experiences during this time. It’s the first record where we each have three songs that we sing solo on.” Friedman adds, “After making Two of Me, I think this album couldn’t help but to get personal. This was the first time all four of us worked together throughout the entire process of demoing, recording, etc. We’ve never had the luxury to work this intimately together for such a prolonged amount of time.” 

Bygone heroes helped inspire a lyrical theme throughout Household Name: the rise and fall of the rock star, and the tropes and tribulations that come with that arc. The theme allowed Momma to celebrate (and, in some cases, directly reference) icons like Nirvana, Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, and the Breeders’ Kim Deal, while weaving in their own perspective and experiences. Although Household Name finds the band embracing personal storytelling for the first time, much of the album embraces a satiric sensibility with its tongue-in-cheek rock culture references.

After supporting Wet Leg on sold-out West Coast shows and making a big debut as part the U.K.’s The Great Escape Festival, Momma will next support Snail Mail’s U.S. summer tour beginning August 12th. The band’s own headlining U.S. tour begins September 12th and will see them playing their biggest venues to date, including shows at Los Angeles’ The Echo on September 24th and Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 8th