Momma

Momma—the Brooklyn-based band led by singers/guitarists Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten—today announced Household Name, their anticipated new album and debut for Polyvinyl Record Co. in North America (Lucky Number Music for the rest of the world), will be released on July 1st, 2022. Co-written with Momma’s Aron Kobayashi Ritch (whose indelible guitar riff serves as the song’s foundation), the album’s fuzzed-out and soaring lead single “Speeding 72" premiered today alongside an in-depth Stereogum feature. The song details a fast burning romance between two kids who meet at a show and go for a ride—its chorus referencing Pavement’s “Gold Soundz'' with nostalgic admiration. Its Madeline Leshner and Zach Stone-directed video perfectly captures the song’s spirit: driving around in the summer with your friends with no real destination, windows down and blasting music. 

Momma today also announced a headlining U.S. tour that 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. Tickets go on-sale Friday, April 22nd at 10am local time. After supporting Wet Leg on sold-out West Coast shows last month, the band will kick off a brief stint in the U.K. (including a Leeds show with Illuminati Hotties) and will also support Snail Mail’s U.S. summer tour. A full itinerary is listed below.

“‘Speeding 72’ is probably the most collaboratively written song on the new record. We wanted it to be the sort of summertime anthem that you can turn on during a drive to impress your crush,” explains the band. “The most important part of the production was setting the right mood to transport the listener. The song starts with Aron getting into his car (which is featured on the album cover), and then turning on the ignition.” Of its video, director Leshner adds, “I knew we had to find the perfect car since that's such a big part of the song. While in pre-production, I saw this Volvo parked on my block and knew we had to have it, so I left a note on the windshield and serendipitously that worked out!” 

Produced by 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. 

Household Name introduces a thrilling new era of the band to not only listeners, but also to the members themselves. “There have been so many times where I have begun to write words to a tune, just out of pure emotion from something I experienced, and I don’t actually realize how I feel about the situation until I listen back to the lyrics after a few days,” Friedman notes. “So, when an artist gets personal in their music, it seems to me that the listeners and the artist are having the same experience at once, which is a better understanding of the writer as a whole. That’s what I want these songs to give to the listener: a true introduction to all sides of Momma.” 

“Speeding 72” follows album singles “Rockstar” and “Medicine,” which collectively earned praise and support upon release from Rolling Stone, The FADER (20 Best Rock Songs Right Now), NME (First On feature), Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Consequence (Best Songs of the Week), NPR Music (New Music Friday playlist), FLOOD, Under the Radar, and many more.