As Mother’s Day quickly approaches, I can’t say I have an abundant stockpile of assets to support the purchase of a stellar gift. The whole “my gift is my presence” thing isn’t cute anymore (it’s debatable whether it ever was), but I currently can’t do much to vastly improve that approach. At the very least, I figure I can offer an SOTD tribute as part of a bigger holiday package, right? As sappy, lame and stereotypical as it sounds, my mom has always been my biggest fan when it comes to my musical ventures. Despite her obligatory support and admiration, she openly admits to being awful at recognizing the names of bands and songs. One of her unexpected personal favorites though, surprisingly comes from the Cold War Kids song “Hang Me Up To Dry”. I first played the song for her during a beautiful and scenic drive out of Cape Cod, and in a Utopian flash of memorable song association, she’ll occasionally make the fond motherly request to “Play the ‘muck and the mire’ song!”

After that maudlin spiel, you’ll be surprised as how grungy this not-so-tender song really is. In the entirety of their debut album 2007 “Robbers & Cowards”, Cold Was Kids detract from boring run-of-the-mill harmoniousness with inspired and callous vocal raucousness. Through driven repetition, the minimal stanzas present a drawn out anger with the expected exploitation of the protagonist’s sullied experiences. Meanwhile the guitar vibrates with choppy, shallow tones to promote an askew uneasiness. To be honest mom, I don’t know why you like this song as much as me…but this one’s for you.