Mobina Galore
Don't Worry
Available on first press blue marble vinyl, limited to 400
Since forming in 2011, Mobina Galore, the Winnipeg punk duo of Jenna Priestner (guitar/ vocals), and drummer Marcia Hanson (drums/ vocals) have cut their teeth on an approach to music that operates without fluff. Now two albums into their nearly decade long career, their highly-anticipated third full-length album, Don’t Worry, out on September 6th, 2019 on New Damage Records and Gunner Records (EU), continues the band’s signature of crafting unapologetically heavy, wildly dynamic songs that explore life’s peaks and valleys with discerning emotional clarity.
While keeping a firm hold on their tight, workhorse-like approach to songs, Don’t Worry may be their most sprawling release to date. With each song clocking in at four minutes or less, they don’t bother dancing around restrained and acceptable responses to heartbreak. Shortly after meeting in 2008, in the drunken mornings after returning home from the bar, Jenna and Marcia began covering Tegan and Sara songs in Jenna’s jam space before focusing on creating original music. Their debut album Cities Away (2014) packed the complexities of life transitions into a smart, scrappy container of straightforward power punk. Their stripped-back sophomore effort Feeling Disconnected (2017) dealt with feelings of isolation and was recorded with just drums and guitar in an effort to channel the raw intensity of their live shows.
Don’t Worry is a twelve-track collection of breathless shout-along anthems. The album revels in rapidly accelerating power chords, while paying homage to a range of generational genre touchpoints like 90s west coast skate punk and first-wave midwest emo. The product is an urgent capsule that both builds on the legacy of bands like the Distillers and Against Me! (LJG once gushed over Jenna’s dynamic voice) and updates the script. Jenna and Marcia go straight for the jugular through lyrics that shuffle through a wide range of emotions—confusion and indignation; exasperation and finally, forgiveness— that speak to the blunt reality of universal experiences.
“Writing Don’t Worry was annoyingly emotional. We were both suffering from heartbreak and for the two years we spent getting the album together, every time we’d go to practice one of the new songs felt like digging up old sore wounds. It’s a very honest album which was nerve-racking to put out for people to hear, but here we are.” — Marcia Hanson
As part of the most recent generation of artists invested in retrofitting the genre with new narratives, Mobina Galore have weaponized their outsider attitude into explosive punk that demands attention on the band’s own terms. By building a catalogue of expertly-executed songs, they’re challenging the industry’s entrenched shortcomings by flipping the stereotype of “overly emotional women” on its head, and instead, turning it into their battle axe.