Biography

Led by singer/songwriter Kristine Leschper, Mothers embrace an intimate, atmospheric style of indie rock with experimental tendencies. Leschper began performing her songs alone as a college student in 2013 before expanding the project to a full band. They released their first album, When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired, in 2016. Leschper grew up in Union City, Georgia and moved a couple hours away to Athens following high school to study printmaking at UGA's Lamar Dodd School of Art. While there, she started Mothers as a solo project, performing publicly for the first time in 2013. The singer's vulnerable, idiosyncratic delivery quickly gained attention at local shows. She met drummer Matthew Anderegg in 2014, and they began fleshing out her songs, eventually adding guitarist Drew Kirby and bassist Patrick Morales to the official lineup. After touring in support of fellow Athenians Of Montreal, the band's brittle, melancholy debut LP, When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired, arrived on Grand Jury and Wichita Recordings in February 2016. Produced by Drew Vandenberg (Widespread Panic, Futurebirds), the album featured guest spots by Josh McKay of Deerhunter and McKendrick Bearden of Grand Vapids. Over the next eight months, Mothers went back out on the road, touring throughout the U.S. and Europe. Though he appeared on the band's follow-up, Kirby parted ways with the group in mid-2017 to focus on ventures including his Marching Banana Records label and his experimental solo project Civils. Chris Goggans, however, recorded bass on the album in place of Morales. In the meantime, Mothers moved base to Philadelphia and signed with Anti-, which released the John Congleton-produced Render Another Ugly Method in September 2018. It ventured into more complex rhythms and looser song structures. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi