Momma - "Bang Bang"

After breaking through with last year's excellent album Household Names, Momma are back with a new single called "Bang Bang."

Momma's Household Names was a fun trip through '90s guitar rock nostalgia that roared with promise just like a muscle car flying down the highway, perhaps speeding along at 72 MPH. Less than a year later, they've shared a new track that holds on to those feelings while continuing to hi the gas pedal, flooring the car as revved up chords soundtrack another stellar drive. Drenched with buzzing reverb, heavy guitars make up the meat of this track as Momma blast ahead with unabashed '90s alt-rock fervor that channels the sonic template of bands like Veruca Salt and The Breeders, or even more recently, like classic Speedy Ortiz. “Allegra and I ended up getting COVID at the same time, so we decided to isolate, get drunk, and write together,” the band’s Etta Friedman said in a press release. “Within a night we had demoed a hot sounding song about great sex.” Allegra Weingarten had this to add: 

We wanted to write something lyrically different than anything else we’d done – just super literal and crude. We shared it with Aron [Kobayashi Ritch] and he sent us back a new version with a lot of added extra production: drums, bass, synths, acoustic guitar, etc. It felt totally different and fresh. The finished song has a lot of classic Momma – heavy guitars and catchy melodies – but packaged in a different form. It feels immediate, like a whole new sound for the band.

The subtle synths that twinkle beneath the raw guitar do indeed add something new to their mix and give it a little more polish than what we heard from them on their last go around. Perhaps it's the sign of a wonderful stepping stone to wherever they go next, but regardless, it's another excellent track in their discography that continues to offer up that lush sound without feeling like a retread of the past. Save for the excellent dose of nostalgia.