This album rests in a place of reflection and wisdom from experience, looking back on places and relationships with a sense of growth tinged with longing. The bluesy rock influence prevalent in much of The Mother Hips’ music is still present, though they push further here, broadening the spectrum of their sound between country, rock, and psychedelia.

★★★★
When We Disappear
BLUE ROSE. CD/DL/LP

Having followed The Mother Hips through 30-odd years and a dozen albums, I still don’t have an easy answer as to what kind of band they are. All I know is that whatever they play or sing sounds like California. Late-’60s/early-’70s West Coast country rock and soul play a big part – at its best here on tender, bittersweet Leaving The Valley and masterful, Gram Parsons-y Almost To Idaho. Sometimes it brings to mind The Band – if The Band were a jam band. There’s also elements of psych rock and Beach Boys (both can be found in Room Four) as well as harmonies (Lost Out The Window) and rocking blues (She Stepped Away).

Mother Hips’ co-founder Tim Bluhm recounts: “When we were teenagers we were on a road trip in the Great Basin with my older brother and some of his friends. They had this cassette tape with a lot of weird music on it and one night at the campfire this song came on and freaked us out,” Tim Bluhm explained. “We later discovered that it was the Charlatans covering a Buffy St Marie song.”

In Their Words: “In one of our last writing sessions before we started the recording process, I had brought a demo of a soulful, guitar groove to Tim. I kept repeating the phrase while Tim worked towards the main melody on guitar. We decided that it was quite effective when he sang along with the guitar line. The lyrics are about the departure from the womb and the desire to return.” – Greg Loiacono, The Mother Hips

Our new record When We Disappear is out today! We recorded at Jojo Manson‘s The Kitchen Sink Studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Mojo Magazine gives it 4 stars ****

Produced and Mixed by Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono for Blue Rose Music
Danny Eisenberg – piano
Mastered by Anthony Puglisi
Art by Jason Lee Denton

Pick up the vinyl and CD here:

We can’t wait to get back to Chico for this excellent three night run. We will be celebrating the release of our forthcoming album “When We Disappear” out 1/27 on Blue Rose Music.

Check out “Codine” live at The Guild. Special thanks to Relix for the video.

Listen to the studio version of this song here: https://fanlink.to/Codine

We have a new single out! Check out “Room Four” at all digital platforms on Blue Rose Music.

“We were in Big Sur at the Fernwood Resort to perform for our 12th annual Hipnic festival. Greg and I were sitting on the edge of the bed in the hotel room in question, playing some guitar. Greg had a riff that was reminiscent of Houses of the Holy-era Led Zeppelin. I had been working with a deceptively difficult Brian Wilson-inspired melody that we managed to fit into the guitar figure with a bit of effort. In the song, the room itself becomes personified and sees the singer in different phases of his life; warm, social gatherings contrasted with quiet, contemplative retreats.” —Tim Bluhm