One thing I’ve always harped on about on this blog is that the debut song of any artist is the most important they’ll ever release because it introduces their sound to the world, so it makes me extremely happy when artists like Mother Pearl release a debut that is utterly spellbinding. From the second it starts to the second it ends Father Figures will take you on an emotionally intoxicating journey that will leave you entranced and have you reaching for the tissues.
“I had been thinking about this concept for a long time. The concept of dating dudes who were much older than I was, and simultaneously fixating on these older male figures in my life by making them into something they were not,” Mother Pearl explains the origins of the single. “I never thought I would be one of those girls with daddy issues, but I kept finding myself in scenarios where I was the broken hearted, naive, younger woman in the picture. All of these thoughts were percolating through my mind when I arrived in Nashville right around fathers day in June of 2017. I was staying with my friend Maggie Chapman (who is also a songwriter), explaining to her my current dilemma with some guy or another. “I make every guy my father figure” I remember saying to her, and she caught the words right out of my mouth. ‘We need to write that song she said.’ The next day it was done in a total of 30 minutes. Ironically on fathers day exactly.
It takes real guts for your debut to be about something that is so personal to you and can be incredibly difficult but Mother Pearl lays out her heart and soul in this single. The lyrics are pure poetry and paint a vivid picture in your mind of the soul-stirring journey she’s gone through with her impassioned vocal making you believe ever word she sings. The cinematic production lends itself well to the atmosphere to the single with the dramatic violins, somber piano melodies and haunting percussion all coming together to create a special piece of music.
