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s an eleven-track collection of songs and tunes, Count The Wicked is a reflection of the mix that the duo would generally play during a performance. Each of the tracks has been composed by the pair, and with a few of them carried over from the EP, that same mood, that internal landscape designed by Amy Lou and Lisa Maria is carried with them. The bleakness and the uplift, the sen- sation of a Weak Winter’s Sun. But it’s wider now of course, and while it’s starkly honest and evocative, it also manages to feel otherworldly, albeit with unvarnished truths.
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I had interpreted a few of the songs as more overtly political than they were written, but Amy Lou and Lisa Maria were gentle in their response. “I think that for us personally, we use music as a way to express the frustration and sadness that comes with living in this world… A passionate reaction to pain and injustice can be seen as political. We welcome any and all interpretations of our music because we believe that personal connection and emotional healing through art is pretty damn revolutionary.”
Title track, Count The Wicked, harmonises a fearful, restricting discontent. “It’s about hiding from all of the sickness in the world and the sickness in your own mind created by that,” Mama’s Broke explain. As the first verse chimes in with reasonably sunny banjo, the vocals are clear water, two parts, foreboding: “You’ll find me in the bedroom with the blinds all drawn/ You come telling lies till I’m back to sleep.”
Dirty Mattress is an intriguingly honest comment on the reali- ty of the troubadour, the rootless artist. Amy Lou sings: “So soft and weak and foolishly I’d think that I have wisdom worth anoth- er’s time.” The mandolin opens, sparse light sparks, gradually mul- tiplying the notes until it gathers accompaniment. Amy explained: “This song for me is a personal conflict I have with myself and other artists who travel and are rootless. At times I feel guilt and shame for being entitled to express myself and being provided a platform to do so, hence the ‘soft and weak’ line. This song is an anti-romantic view of travelling artists who inevitably settle in low-income neighbourhoods in cities all over, a sort of first-wave gentrification; causing problems for folks who’ve worked hard to build homes for themselves.”
So it continues. Wrecking Need is “An attempt at a realistic view of a toxic relationship. Both parties are responsible, both par- ties have addictions and weaknesses. And both, for just this moment, are committed to loving each other.” Listen out for some lovely slide guitar on this track, courtesy of Halifax townsman, Zach Crawford.
Mama’s Broke will be touring through Canada and the US quite consistently through the rest of this year, and there are rumours of work afoot on a second album. They’re planning to head over to this side of the pond in summer 2019. I’d bust a gut to see this pair live.
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