Comprised of Pete Bosack and Tommy Franzen, the Portland, OR-based duo Mothertapes can trace their collaborative efforts to the duo’s first musical project, Wax Fingers which they co-founded. Zac Jacobsen, was recruited to flesh out the project’s sound, and the band became a trio.
After the release of the trio’s self-titled debut, Jacobsen left the band, and as a result the duo of Bosack and Franzen decided that instead of recruiting new members, that they should start completely anew with the original partnership that was the bedrock of their previous project.
As Mothertapes, Bosack and Franzen decided that they should begin on writing new material that would push their progressive leaning pop sound comprised of heavy beats, and lush layers of programmed and live-looped instrumentation wrapped around intense guitar hooks and vocals to new heights. “Do Make Say,” the first single off the duo’s forthcoming self-titled album, slated for an October 2 release through the Self Group creative collective possesses a sound that manages to be simultaneously dense and atmospheric, rousingly anthemic and yet deeply personal and intimate — while being slickly produced, to boot. Big, swaggering, woofer and tweeter rattling beats pull the song’s ethereal and reverb-heavy guitar work to earth while lyrically the song swoons with a Romantic urgency.
Certainly, in an age of sneering irony, such earnestness is refreshing and downright necessary, as it should remind the listener that there is still plenty of things to honestly and sincerely feel and say — and that we shouldn’t be afraid of facing the world with our honest selves.
