Mother. The Wandering Hearts

Sometimes I hear a song and my mouth just drops open from the sheer beauty of what I'm hearing. I may have heard a band like The Wandering Hearts a couple of hundred times in my life starting most likely with The Mamas and The Papas' 'Monday Monday' when I was very young. And, yet, my mouth just dropped when I heard the single 'Letter To Myself' for the first time.

The link to the album was opened immediately as well and on listening the satisfaction was instant. The biggest attraction is the vocals between the members, Tara Wilcox (vocals), A.J. Dean (vocals, acoustic guitar), and Francesca "Chess" Whiffin (vocals, mandolin), where the ladies take the upper hand in most songs.

The Wandering Hearts have released an album in 2018 called 'Wild Silence' and in 2021, 'The Wandering Hearts'. Wild Silence would have been a good title for Mother as well. The music is subtle in most instances, from this silence wild vocal harmonies grow. Usually it takes family members to sing this good together. Musically The Wandering Hearts remind me most of Hazeldine, where the vocal are concerned. This former U.S. band did not eschew an electric guitar (solo) played by Jeffrey Richards. Enter 'Hold Your Tongue'.

On Mother the lead instruments are acoustic guitars. There's a bass and drums, an organ and even some extras here and there, but all is in the service of the singing. Musically, the band is put under country or so I understand. I can live with it but it has nothing to do with what I consider country, the music I hated 50 years ago or something. This is what I want to call great pop music. There's a folk element, a country element, a pop element, even a little rock. When this is all shaken and  stirred in the The Wandering Hearts blender, this is what you get: beautiful songs with perfect harmonies. The kind of music I only need to close my eyes to to drift off into another world, one without place and time, just the music and me.

What is most surprising perhaps is that the trio is not from the U.S. but from London in the U.K. You could have fooled me here. It proves that it doesn't matter where your crib stood to be able to make great music in a genre.

Yes, I've heard music like this multiple times, but seldom as impactful as this. Enter Hazeldine once again and its one superb album 'Digging You Up'. Tonya Lamb and Tara Wilcox could be sisters. Mother is a deeply beautiful and, mostly serene album that I simply love listening to.

Wout de Natris