With Mother’s Day just around the corner, it’s the time of year to celebrate not only our biological mothers, but also the individuals in our everyday lives who bestow the type of maternal wisdom upon us that makes us reconsider our most idiotic tendencies before acting on them. Such is the wisdom Durham, North Carolina–based songwriter Skylar Gudasz pays tribute to in her new single “Mother’s Daughter,” a glowing, comforting synth ballad recalling some of Jenny Hval’s more pop-leaning compositions.
“The lyrics are all sayings that my mother (and grandmother, and father, and friends, and others) instilled in me,” she shares, clarifying that such wisdom extends beyond maternal figures. “These are illuminations that, when internalized, take on a kind of intuitive, guiding power. They run inside of you on a loop the way a song does, you know, with a cadence you kind of sing to yourself. And through the repetition they become a spell—of protection or spurring on. Of course, internalizations can also be critical, but this is more about the voices that hold you when you need holding, and that move you forward when you need encouragement. And then there’s the Earth and her wisdom—this song is for her too.”
The loose single precedes a series of upcoming regional shows either opening for Brian Dunne or as a full-band headliner. Find those dates here, and watch the self-directed, vibrantly filmed (and choreographed) video for the track below, which features a small chorus of wisdom-toting peers.
