''Mother'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Australian duo

Xylouris White Xylouris White is a musical collaboration established in 2013, involving Greek singer and laouto player George Xylouris and Australian drummer Jim White, best known for his work with Dirty Three. The duo's music has been described as combining ...

. It was released on 19 January 2018, through Bella Union. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2018 The 32nd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) are a series of award ceremonies which include the 2018 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fine ...

it was nominated for

Best World Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album is an honor presented to recording artists for influential music from around the globe at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

Critical reception

''Mother'' was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 78, based on 11 reviews. Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 75 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 10 reviews. Thom Jurek from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said the album is "more spacious album than either of its predecessors. Each tune births further exploration as each statement is a (sometimes slightly) varied response but more often a question. While the album is integral to its predecessors as part of a loosely conceived and articulated musical trilogy, it stands on its own as an exercise in close listening, careful communication, and quiet revelation." Vish Khanna from

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

said: "Mother finds Xylouris White quietly questioning musical structure and expectations. They remain trailblazing outliers with a supernatural power to express themselves as one and, with a warmth and welcoming generosity of spirit, invite listeners to step up and out of their comfort zones." Robin Denselow from

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

wrote: "Their two earlier albums were remarkable for their blend of improvisation and energy, and the new set proves they are capable of treating elegant, thoughtful songs with an equal spirit of adventure. The quieter songs bring further displays of the empathy between them, with the thoughtful Lullaby providing a delicate ending to an exhilarating set."

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians *

George Xylouris Giorgos Xylouris ( el, Γιώργoς Ξυλούρης, born September 25, 1965), also known as ''Psarogiorgis'' (Greek: Ψαρογιώργης), is a Cretan laouto player and singer. Xylouris was born into a musical family (his father is Psaran ...

– vocals, cretan laouto, cello * Jim White – drums * Aristeidis Chairetis – backing vocals * Anna Roberts-Gevalt – violin * Giorgis Stavrakakis – backing vocals * Mitsos Stavrakakis – backing vocals Production * Eli Crews – mixing *

Bryce Goggin Bryce Goggin is an American record producer and sound engineer. His career began in the early 1990s, working at Baby Monster Studios. He first received note for mixing the album ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'' by Pavement. He has since worked with ...

– engineer, mixing *

Harris Newman Harris Newman is a mastering engineer working out of Grey Market Mastering in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His studio shares a building with the Hotel2Tango recording studio, as well as Constellation Records. Newman has mastered hundreds of album ...

– mastering * Guy Picciotto – mixing, producer * Yosimar Gomez – engineer * Nikos Kefalogiannis – engineer, mixing

References

{{Authority control 2018 albums Bella Union albums Xylouris White albums