Pre-order Momma's highly anticipated new album 'Household Name' (out 7/1) + watch "Speeding 72" official video

April 19, 2022

At long last Momma have announced their already legendary new album, Household Name, arriving July 1, 2022. Pre-order an Early Bird edition on limited Clear w/ Blue Smoke vinyl and grab a trucker hat, shot glass, and magic 8-ball keychain while you're at it.

The Brooklyn-based band led by singers/guitarists Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten sat down with Stereogum ahead of the premiere of their soaring new track "Speeding 72". Co-written with the band's Aron Kobayashi Ritch (whose indelible guitar riff serves as the song’s foundation), the album’s fuzzed-out lead single details a fast burning romance between two kids who meet at a show and go for a ride—its chorus referencing Pavement's "Gold Soundz" with nostalgic admiration. Watch the official video, directed by Madeline Leshner and Zach Stone, below.

“‘Speeding 72’ is probably the most collaboratively written song on the new record. We wanted it to be the sort of summertime anthem that you can turn on during a drive to impress your crush,” explains the band. “The most important part of the production was setting the right mood to transport the listener. The song starts with Aron getting into his car (which is featured on the album cover), and then turning on the ignition.” Of its video, director Leshner adds, “I knew we had to find the perfect car since that's such a big part of the song. While in pre-production, I saw this Volvo parked on my block and knew we had to have it, so I left a note on the windshield and serendipitously that worked out!”

Produced by Aron Kobayashi Ritch and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Emily Lazar (The Killers, Maggie Rogers), Household Name is Momma’s first full-band collaboration recorded in a proper studio that sees the band skillfully carve out their own path in today's world of alt rock. Bygone heroes helped inspire a theme throughout the album: the rise and fall of the rock star, and the tropes and tribulations that come with that arc. This allowed the band to celebrate (and, in some cases, directly reference) icons like Nirvana, Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, and the Breeders’ Kim Deal, while weaving in their own perspective and experiences.

Across the album’s 12 songs, Etta & Allegra cull lyrical inspiration from their own lives for the first time–a contrast with the conceptual fiction of their beloved 2020 album Two of Me. “I went through a lot of changes as we were writing and demoing this record. The biggest was that I was going through a really messy breakup, which was motivation to make this record the best it could be. I really felt like I had something to prove,” Allegra says. “I wanted to write about heartbreak, which isn’t something we normally focus on in our lyrics. Etta and I ended up writing several songs on our own because we were having two really different experiences during this time. It’s the first record where we each have three songs that we sing solo on.”

"Speeding 72" follows album singles "Rockstar" and "Medicine," but Household Name introduces a thrilling new era of the band to not only listeners, but also to the members themselves. “There have been so many times where I have begun to write words to a tune, just out of pure emotion from something I experienced, and I don’t actually realize how I feel about the situation until I listen back to the lyrics after a few days,” Etta notes. “So, when an artist gets personal in their music, it seems to me that the listeners and the artist are having the same experience at once, which is a better understanding of the writer as a whole. That’s what I want these songs to give to the listener: a true introduction to all sides of Momma.”

The band has also announced their biggest U.S. headline tour to date, including shows at Los Angeles’ The Echo on September 24th and Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 8th. Tickets onsale Friday, April 22 @ 10am local time.