The Return of Be Your Own Pet with the Impetuous Album ‘Mommy’

The return of Be Your Own Pet with the impetuous album “Mommy”

In the mid-noughties, Be Your Own Pet released two garage-crazy albums that were rightly praised. Fully in tune with the waves of the time, bands like The White Stripes and The Strokes brought rock back onto the scene after the electronic-influenced 90s. In 2008, just two years after the band’s self-titled debut album, the Nashville, Tennessee quartet broke up; The singer Jemina Pearl cited sexism and pressure from the music industry as the reason.

However, she didn’t stay away from the business for particularly long; her solo debut “Break It Up” was released in 2009, in the Be Your Own Pet style.

They couldn’t say no

Now the band is back, after a decade and a half and with the original line-up. Jack White invited her to his opening act in 2022 and, according to Jemina Pearl in an interview, of course they couldn’t say no. The new album with the programmatic title “Mommy” was released on Third Man Records, the Whites label.

Jeremy Ferguson produced again, the sound hasn’t changed compared to the early days, but the lyrics have. Right from the start in “Worship the Whip,” a number about the “authoritarian personality” type, the band sweeps everything away, with a thunderous guitar noise at the end. It continues full of anger and impetuosity, with a few exceptions. Eleven numbers in 35 minutes, up to the unusual “Teenage Heaven” at the end, which quotes the blissful girl pop of the 60s, with a reminiscence of youth in the lyrics.

Once upon a time, Be Your Own Pet, whose members were all teenagers when they were founded, was anarchically exuberant about growing up, complete with excessive shows. Jemina Pearl has now settled into the reality of a family life. “I have two kids and a mortgage/What the F***?!” goes “Good Time.”

But it’s not about loudness, the album is more about the self-confident manifestation of a point of view. “I’m not your victim/I’m myself/I’m not afraid/I’m not just any victim/I’m freeing myself,” goes “Hand Grenade.” And further: “If you can’t sleep at night/I’ll ​​be the reason!” Pearl’s howling buoy song is sometimes reminiscent of Suzi Quatro, an undoubted reference source is Riot Grrrls like Bikini Kill.

In another song, Jemina Pearl announces a feminist-motivated “Big Trouble”: “I want pay for housework/I want free child care/I want legal abortion/Full body autonomy/I want equal pay/I want real justice.” The wavy “Rubberist” is powerful, yet rhythmically more complex. The musically enormous “Pleasure Seeker”, on the other hand, screams for the stadium due to the power chords from guitarist Jonas Stein.

Be Your Own Pet couldn’t claim a prize for musical originality at the time. But that was never a compelling criterion for effective garage rock.