Moon Mother are a duo who hail from Sweden featuring lyricist Sara Mehner on vocals, piano, and guitar, alongside Pat Ahlström on guitars, bass, string-arrangements, and sounds. They are joined by drummer, Rob Hall.
They have just released Meadowlands, their second full album available on Bandcamp at https://moonmother.bandcamp.com/album/meadowlands I played It Comes With Shadows on my radio show of 10th January, and it is now my pleasure to bring you a full review of an album I think sits very well with the best of modern dark folk rock music.
The website, incidentally, is at https://moonmothermusic.com/ where, amongst other delights, you can see details of forthcoming shows, and I would also recommend taking yourself to their YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@moonmothermusic where there is some quality material, a couple of examples of which I will embed on this review.
Meadowlands has garnered some impressive reviews, for sure. There are eight pieces of music, so let’s dive in.
We open with High Houses, and immediately Mehner’s voice strikes you, mysterious, gothic, expressive, and from those opening words, I knew this was a work I would enjoy. The use of cymbals from Hall adds to this atmospheric piece of music, which pulls off that difficult trick of building intensity without you really noticing. The haunting electric guitar is brilliant behind the main riffs, the bass reminds me of Geezer Butler, menacing, yet melodic at the same time. An excellent start.
As stated above, I recently played It Comes with Shadows, and I have embedded the official video for you below these words. There is a touch of early U2 to the opening chords, and this voice is simply oozing with repressed power. I think you will agree with me that there is such a rich sound in this recording, the mix perfect in never overpowering this stunning voice, but providing the perfect backdrop to it, rising, though, from the shadows in a glorious burst of noise when needed. One to play loud with the lights turned off, and a contender for an award on my website’s annual awards. Truly exceptional.
World in a Glass Jar, a cracking title for a song, is up next, evoking the raw power and beauty of the ancient forest, especially in the long, dark, winter months, with light at a premium. An achingly emotional voice crying out, despairing at the evil in the world, alone in the backdrop of the forest, the voice at the centre of everything, in much the same way as Hogarth did something similar in Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury on Brave – no, this sounds absolutely nothing like that track; what I mean is the evocation of loneliness using emotion, almost powerless against forces we do not understand, or do not welcome. The distorted guitar riff is perfect, rising up against the world, the piano singular, the bass used sparingly. Brilliant and moving.
This is followed by Be A Forest, Child! This is quite a long track, not far short of seven minutes. The vocals here are lilting, the underscore darkly heavy, the acoustic guitar cleverly providing a counterpoint, a deeply contemplative song, the harmonies laid upon each individual voice of Mehner utterly beguiling, and within all this, there are some fierce notes pushing back. The guitar solo just short of five minutes in is sparing, but all the better for that against those swirling voices, the high notes, though, up there with the best you will hear in 2026, the drum thumping, the cymbals rising up.
I have embedded the official video for Wilderness below, the still acoustic guitar and voice perfect against the backdrop of that eternal stark, raw landscape calling out, ancients dancing in the woods, praying to forces we seem to have forgotten in this noisy modern world of ours. The piano which enters two minutes in is such a good example of how Moon Mother uses notes in isolation to then introduce us to a sweeping panorama of sound.
Root Window follows this. It is the longest track here, just over the eight-minute mark. As we start, we have guitar chords at the forefront, the choral voice in the background before the main vocal takes prominence, mournfully talking about bodies being buried under lies, the song drawing their secrets from the roots of the forest. This is as about a perfect example of slow rock as it is possible to get, mono paced, but never once losing the interest of the listener, the chords, vocals, ethereal chants utterly beguiling until two minutes out from the close, a subtle chord change, the introduction of the thumping drums, and increase in tone mark a move to a wall of sound, the closing passage a dark, passionate delight.
The title track is the penultimate one. It opens with piano and orchestration, the acoustic guitar then cleverly bringing a deeper hue, the vocals taking us into darkness (again), seeking quiet places which are themselves full of song, and it is this paradox the duo bring to life so well. I live in a rural area, hate the city full of too many people and ugliness, but I think that even I would baulk at the remote world Moon Mother bring us in this gorgeous album, starkly beautiful, but full of mystery, stories, and some of them pulling at our very primeval soul. I have, though, rarely heard anything as emotive and moving as this voice soaring wordlessly above the landscape.
We close, then, with Windhover, taking its inspiration, I believe, a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, written in 1877, describing a kestrel hovering in the air, praising its beauty and mastery. Indeed, the strings and voice which open evoke the majesty of that incredible bird, silently searching the ground below for its unfortunate prey. The guitar work has the feel of that true master of the instrument, Mark Knopfler, and this song has a distinct Celtic tint to it, certainly something fans of the man and bands such as Iona should love. The final minute is a folk-rock wonder to behold, the guitar solo leading the thudding charge and voices to the prey. A dramatic, moving, and evocative way to close.
Meadowlands is precisely the type of album this website adores. You will rarely have heard anything as powerful as this voice and the music which allows it space to breathe before. It is simply a stunning album which I cannot recommend highly enough.