Mamalarky spent two years working on their self-titled debut album (out via Fire Talk on November 20). Raw and cerebral, the LP looks to a range of influences from their collective musical nerdiness. ''We might have a vocal melody that sounds like the lead steel guitar from Santo & Johnny, played over production that aims to be noisy and weird like Deerhoof or Sheer Mag, all the while steeped in the greats like Stevie Wonder or The Four Seasons,' explains Livvy. The album itself was cobbled together in a mix of DIY ways: home recordings with Livvy’s roommate Joey Oaxaca (White Reaper, Mo Dotti), singles with Daniel McNeill (White Denim) and a “final wrapping-up” with engineer Jim Vollentine (Spoon, Skating Polly).
“We want to provide an experience that's exploratory and trippy, but far removed from the problematic and corny psych stereotypes carried out by all those '60s dude bands. It grosses us out,” continues Livvy.
Topping it all off is Livvy’s hyper-personal songwriting. “I feel really exposed putting out an album,” she admits. Songs like “Drugstore Model” and “Don’t Laugh at Me” were inspired by her post-college move to LA where she didn’t immediately feel like she fit in with the local scene. The single “Fury” was born out of being on the road and written during a show soundcheck. “You Make Me Smile” had been penned in her car after an encounter with a stranger during a breezy day at the park that made Livvy reflect on her own romantic life.
“'You Make Me Smile’ came to me as I was unpacking feelings I had been repressing for a long time,” she says of the song’s origins. Even though the chorus says the song’s romantic title, it’s a sad, bittersweet song for Livvy. “I was transmuting this lovelorn, unexpressed, guilty feeling into something I could actually say out loud. At the time it was just a realization that my feelings for someone were never going to go away. They were always going to be carried with me whether I liked it or not.” It was a scary but necessary realization. “I knew I was going to be sitting with this crush in my head as I bumped along the road in a van.”
Even the band’s geological distance came to inspire the track “Schism Trek.” In between tours together, they were split between LA and Austin. “'Schism Trek’ explores what life looks like when you're finding your way without the comfort of your friends beside you,” the singer explains. “The whole band was going through this in different ways as we went touring with different projects. Taking leaps and pushing our limits, we all came out stronger people for sure.”
