from Indieville
| This is just great. Holy Mary, Mother of Bert are an offbeat indie band that does away with the traditional instruments and, instead, uses folk instruments like banjos and accordions. These are used very effectively, making for a very pleasant collection of catchy indie pop tunes that fall somewhere in the realm of They Might Be Giants. But, in all its glory, the instrumentation is clearly outdone by the lyrics, which are just laugh-out-loud hilarious (sorry for the cliché, but it's true). Take "Spleen" for example. It's a wonderful little track that centers around tired old love clichés ("She asked if she could have my heart/I knew I only had one/And I don't think it comes apart/ I probably need it/A man can't live with none"). By the end of the song, when the singer non-chalantly offers his girlfriend his spleen, you'll be laughing to no avail. And then there's "Mainstream Opus", a song that pokes fun at the state of the popular music scene ("I have a band/Our name is Bert/We own a van/Our egos hurt/Because our songs/Eight minutes long/ Are viewed as wrong/By the bread deadened-throng"). So Holy Mary, Mother of Bert definitely has a success with this album. They take hilarious, charming lyrics, and combine them with talented songwriting - all to great effect. And while this album may sound like a joke, once you hear it, you'll know it's much more than that. -- Matt Shimmer |
from Splendid E-Zine
| The instruments favored by Holy Mary, Mother of Bert are definitely folk (accordion, viola, acoustic guitars, upright bass and simple drums), but the band is assuredly not. Instead, they roam in the quirky territory They Might Be Giants once ruled. With smart arrangements and songs populated with strange characters, this quintet makes music for honors students who are too weird for pop and not alienated enough for goth. Relaxed and funny, the songs are appealing in the way the easy-going guy down the hall was: unassuming and just nice. With lyrics that refer quite lovingly to Sesame Street ("Sancta Maria Mater Bertis") and offer up vital organs as tokens of affection ("Spleen"), the band draws links between itself and "Weird" Al Yankovic. Yankovic, however, has made his career out of parody, while these guys do fine with simple charm. -- Ron Davies |
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