The Mothercrow Premiere “Howling” Video; Foráneo Due Sept. 17
Posted in Bootleg Theater on July 16th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Barcelona-based classic heavy rockers The Mothercrow will release their second album, Foráneo, in Sept. 17 through Discos Macarras and LaRubia Producciones. I won’t pretend to have a full grasp on the lineup changes and shifts in methodology that have taken place within the band since their debut, Magara, came out in 2019 — vocalist Karen Asensio and guitarist/backing vocalist Max Eriksson have at least traded out rhythm sections since then; Jaume Darder is on drums and Daniel Ribeiro handles bass this time around — but it’s all apparently been in the works for a while, as lead-single “Howling” began to come together at the dawn of the decade and the video for it premiering below was filmed a little over year ago, in the deserty-looking Monegros region, westward inland from Spain’s east coast.
The setting makes sense, and desert-plus-riffs shouldn’t be a giant mental leap to make for denizens of the heavy rock underground, but if they’d filmed “Howling” in a dimly lit blues bar, I don’t think you’d be able to say they were wrong. Of course, that ’70s-born swagger does just fine baking in a hot sun, and kudos to The Mothercrow for even lugging speaker cabinets all the way out there to perform in front of rock formations casting long afternoon shadows, but the point is there’s more going on with the track than the desert visual holds, striking as it is. The swinging groove and sultry melody come across like a combination born for trouble, and one suspects that’s the impression they’re looking to make. I haven’t heard the rest of Foráneo, so can’t speak to how “Howling” fits on the record as a whole, but certainly Magara had intertwining moments of greater and lesser charge, and I’d expect no less dynamic to show itself on the follow-up, despite personnel swapping in and out of the lineup.
A release show for Foráneo is set for Sept. 27 at El Sótano in Madrid with The White Coven, so if you’re looking for something beyong the exact issue date, that’ll probably work. As for preorders and all the rest, keep an eye out as they’re surely coming soon, and in the meantime, maybe it’s cool to just dig into the clip below and let tomorrow worry about tomorrow, as no doubt it would anyway.
Please, enjoy:
The Mothercrow, “Howling” video premiere
The Mothercrow on “Howling”:
The essence of Howling came about as an attempt to write a song with a propulsive groove that drives steadily forward, like an old steam train. Going Down by Freddie King is perhaps the most obvious influence, but unlike it, it’s far away from the standard blues progression.
The song was one of the first to be completed, and we even recorded a demo of it back in 2020, using a professional recording studio. Unfortunately it never saw the light of day, since we were far from happy with the result. We did however learn our lesson and could identify exactly what we needed to improve for the next time we went into the studio.
Everyone felt that there was a sexual swagger about the beat that needed further exploring, so we decided to write a fitting lyric. Forbidden attraction became the overall topic, with some sexual innuendos more subtle than others. We tried to have fun with it and make something playful that would do the song justice. It’s also our first song that relies heavily on shouted backing vocals, perhaps another reference to the blues.
During the recording session, percussion instruments were added to propel the beat further, and even a stand up piano was added as a final touch to the end. Howling always felt like a single to us, so it was an obvious choice when we were going to record our first music video for this album. We went four hours by car out in the desert of Monegros, to find the perfect location.
Release show Sept. 27 tickets: https://dice.fm/artist/white-coven-5vxnd
VIDEO CREDITS
Directed and Edited by: Ismael Conejero
Direction of Photography: Cultural Dogs
Colour graded by Víctor Gómez
Produced by: Muricec Films & The Mothercrow
Released by Discos Marcarras Records & LaRubiaProducciones
The Mothercrow:
Karen Asensio – vocals
Max Eriksson – guitar
Jaume Darder – drums
Daniel Ribeiro – bass
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