In the saturated world of indie music, it’s easy for artists to lose – or never find – their peculiar identity. Mammoth Penguins found theirs long ago, and on their latest outing Here, they continue to develop their unique style of indie rock.
How they got Here is a question of where “there” was. The band’s wonderfully titled 2019 album There’s No Fight We Can’t Both Win was an exciting step forward. Off the back of their great warm-up shows, they were ready to tour, play SXSW, and dive into writing a whole new album, but the pandemic put a big pin in any further activity. In their own words, it was “heartbreaking”. The pandemic cloud settled over the world, but true to form for a good indie band, Mammoth Penguin persevered.
Their 2019 album was bold and self-assured, but this new one would be a little different. Here doesn’t lack confidence, but it is, perhaps, more reflective due to the world’s difficult last few years. The band wrote collaboratively during quarantine and grew their songwriting skills (like jamming a song and editing it down, the source of ‘Plea for Kindness’) working remotely in the absence of studio access.
“True to form for a good indie band, Mammoth Penguin persevered. ”
While the album art suggests a dark album, Here is a balanced, catchy album about finding a home and a place for your head. Some of the songs touch on dark topics and the lyrics are generally not dance-hall fare, but Here is not going to find itself on an emo playlist. The music is three-piece power-pop with interesting tidbits and twists that set Here apart from its contemporaries. According to the album art team, Here’s foreboding artwork actually represents fond memories of places and times. The abstract visual allows the viewer to dwell on their experiences since memories are supremely personal.
As an indie band, Mammoth Penguins are DIY-ers: Here is reminiscent of slacker rock, but the band are not slackers. They work hard, and the evidence of that is present both in the quality of the record and in the lyrics. ‘Flyers’ doesn’t glorify the life of a DIY band; it underscores its difficulties through everyday images: “a poster for a show that was empty”, “nobody’s going to buy those spare copies”, “under the bed those triple XL tees / no wonder they said it was a dead-end dream”. ‘Flyers’ purpose is two-fold. It demonstrates how tough DIY-ing can be and shows how hard Mammoth Penguins work for their art.
The band’s catchy riffing and melodic lines are the bread and butter of their music, but they go above and beyond with electronic flourishes and violin support, especially on the wistful ‘Success’. The rhythmic choices from vocalist and songwriter Emma Kupa with certain lyric lines are fantastic. In ‘Everything That I Write’, about someone hearing but not listening, every line fits neatly into a pattern, except the penultimate line. It is brilliantly, jarringly crammed into the meter: “I have to tell you the same thing two to three times a day” – just another example of how Mammoth Penguins set themselves apart from the crowd.
Here has a genuine, down-to-earth quality, like old friends on a lunch date chatting about life. The pieces work together beautifully. It’s a heavy album, but it’s comforting in a way that creates a place for your head and feels like home.