How do you follow up on one of 2018’s best all-around albums, not to mention one pointing at a way forward for independent musicians raised on the internet to travel down? Release another album — billed as a “first album,” at that — to close out the year, one that might be even loaded with more genre-blurring bangers. Mom will be capping off a breakthrough 12 months with another full-length, titled Playground, out in November, and “Boyfriend” offers the first look at it. It’s pretty on point for what Mom has been doing before — they are one of the first artists to emerge that feels like netlabels and YouTube algorithms played a massive part in shaping their approach to music. Which is to say…Mom is very online, and their songs are not concerned with genre walls. “Boyfriend” finds Mom delivering a sing-rap about RoboCop and his romantic intentions, backed by synths just dazing out and a guitar melody more in tune with indie-rock than anything else (poked fun a little bit in the video which…hey, look at Mom! Charming!). Maybe this will be their “first album,” but it will be building on a very strong base. Listen above.
