Mother Tongues

Mother Tongues, the rising Toronto-based band led by vocalist/bassist Charise Aragoza and guitarist/vocalist Lukas Cheung, today released their latest dreamy single “Only You” off their forthcoming debut album Love In A Vicious Way due out July 21st (Wavy Haze Records). “Only You”–premiering today via Paste–blends late '90s breakbeat production, shoegaze, and dream-pop into a blissed-out cyber goth anthem, and arrives alongside a video directed by the band's Lukas Cheung. The video reunites Mother Tongues' singer Aragoza and sibling Jay Aragoza as a dancing duo for the first time in 10 years playing their childhood obsession, 2000’s arcade classic 'Dance Dance Revolution.’ 

Lukas Cheung explains: "This song is an ode to all the things we love about the 1990’s/early 2000’s. We’re hoping The Wachowskis make another The Matrix sequel so we can make it onto the soundtrack." The “Only You” video also features animations by Cheung’s brother Dudley Cheung and artist Carson Teal. 

“Only You” follows singles “Worm Day” and “A Heart Beating,” which have earned early praise and support from FLOOD Magazine, CBC Music, Exclaim!, Northern Transmissions, and more. After a run of recent shows in Canada, Mother Tongues are set to play their festival debuts at Sled Island with Pom Pom Squad and Sappyfest; a full itinerary is listed below and tickets are on-sale now. Love In A Vicious Way is available for pre-order here.

Love In A Vicious Way lurks between the cerebral and feral: at moments, precious and serene; in a blink, snarling, teeth razor-sharp. Its 10 songs about love, longing, desire, and identity are charged with a sincerity and teenage sentimentalism that captures a time when everything was crucial and felt tenfold. Love In A Vicious Way sees the band carving out a space for themselves: they are world-building. Joined by Kvesche Bijons-Ebacher (synths), Lane Halley (guitar), and Nick Kervin (drums)–who have played with artists like Lido Pimienta, Maylee Todd, and Zoon–Mother Tongues’ propensity for rich atmospherics and cinematic arrangements here reach stratospheric heights, riding thundering, totalizing waves of angsty alt-rock, interstellar psychedelia, dream-pop-noir, and touches of ‘90s breakbeat and electronica. 

Cheung, who co-produced Love In A Vicious Way alongside Asher Gould-Murtagh (Born Ruffians, Kali Horse), says the LP title is “an exploration of the darker ways we love, the parts with teeth. It possesses you, it’s a pit you fall into. Love overtakes you, this record is about surrendering to that feeling.” While Aragoza is no stranger to the stage–having wet her feet performing in Luna Li and touring alongside acts such as Japanese Breakfast and Beabadoobee–Mother Tongues sees her stepping into the role of singer and front person for the first time. 

Love In A Vicious Way ultimately showcases a young band building a musical world that reflects their own unique experience, and extending an invitation to others. “We’re peering into the future and imagining what this world could be. It’s a little William Gibson, a little cyberpunk, it’s lit like a Wong-Kar-Wai film. It’s queer, it’s free, a little goth, everyone’s wearing eyeliner,” Cheung laughs. “I like to imagine our record bleeding out of the headphones of some 16-year-old in this not-so-distant universe.”