Given Ryan Guillemond's obvious dominance of his band, the line-up change that preceded this record--Jasmin Parkin replacing Debra-Jean Creelman on female harmony vocal and adding her synth playing to the mix--had a surprisingly significant effect on their sound. Eureka is synthier-sounding, obviously. But it's also sweeter and more sure-footed (and, on the flip side, more conventional) than either of Mother Mother's previous records, 2007's Touch Up or 2008's O My Heart. Parkin's voice is less well suited to baby doll-isms than was Creelman's and, accordingly, she and Molly Guillemond sing more genuine harmony and less cutesy call-and-response. Molly even takes lead vocals on "Getaway" for only the second time on a Mother Mother record (the first being "Sleep Awake" from O My Heart). On the downside, Eureka lacks a great single like "O My Heart" or "Hayloft"; neither "The Stand" nor "Chasing it Down" really compare as stand-alone songs. But as an album, it's pretty consistent, and it's mostly good to see Mother Mother continuing to jettison their original limiting (and occassionally irritating) novelty approach in favour of a more direct and appreciable pop sensibility, even if it does occassionally draw toward anonymity (see "Problems" or "Born in a Flash"). This is a tough line to walk for any maturing pop band and it will be interesting to see how Mother Mother deal with it as they continue to evolve and cohese.
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