by Bob Keeley
Quietus is not a word that’s very common. It means something that causes death or a release from life. But No Quietus, the new album from the Mommyheads isn’t about death, it’s about life. The music doesn’t project a dire look at life either. While not really prog, No Quietus is prog-adjacent. On first listen, it might sound like a standard indie band doing standard indie band stuff. But in digging into it, one begins to hear a lot of the things that many of us love about prog: non-standard key changes, interesting meter, lyrics that are deeper than much pop-rock, and instrumental virtuosity. The virtuosity doesn’t reach out and grab you in a Dream Theater or Steve Hackett kind of way. This is a band, playing as a band, presenting a set of songs that they want you to hear. The instruments serve the song and the lyrics.
Right from the start, as the opening of “Triumph and Crash” eases in with a repeating motif (another common prog characteristic) that gives way to the first verse as Adam Elk (band leader and songwriter) sings “I’m of no consequence,” we recognize that this is not just standard-fare indie pop. The Mommyheads have been around for a while, starting in 1987 and, while taking a ten-year break starting at the end of the last century, this New York City based quartet has crafted a quirky and interesting album.
While there is a consistent sound across the entire 46-minute ten-song album, there is plenty of sonic variety. “Triumph and Crash” uses synths to undergird the pensive verses that lead up to a fuller, bigger chorus. Elk’s vocals draw the listener in as he sings about reflecting on both his relative insignificance and yet his determination to be his own person: “I’d rather blaze my own path and keep what’s left of my soul.”
As the band moves on to “Black Veins” the melody of both the verses and the chorus are based on interesting chord progressions with a chorus that soars when Elk sings, “take these black veins and turn them blue.” In the title track, a staccato 6/8 time signature gives a bouncy background to the defiant theme of the song and the album: we’re not dead yet. And even as “times slender fingers slide under mine,” there is a firm conviction to “hold on a little more” as there will be “no quietus today.”
Our journey continues in “I’m Your Apocalypse,” with a strident guitar figure in 7/8. This perhaps most proggy song on the album chugs along, making this odd time signature sound downright popish. It continues the theme of how we as people are both everything and nothing. In the next song, “Always Reaching,” Elk even sings that we’re “always reaching out to heaven, never knowing if it exists.” Brass punctuates the instrumental theme that underscores the grand intentions behind the text. Drummer Dan Fisherman has a few standout moments here.
Perhaps the catchiest song on the album, “Race Car Brain” opens the second half of the album. Featuring a highly memorable chorus, Elk begs us not to “try to tame the boy with the race car brain. Using this highly evocative metaphor, we wonder if he’s singing about himself or someone close to him. Either way, the synth solo and guitar solos give us different ways to think about what’s going on in this song, which is primarily fingerstyle acoustic guitar-based. It’s really interesting and the hook made it a song that I kept going back to.
On “The Beast is Back,’ a song with a heavy back beat and a biting text: “nothing gleams where I come from.” Elk hits back at people who tried to put him down in his youth, “critiquing you all with my poison pen” using a repetitious chorus (“oh, the beast is back”) saying, in effect, this is who I am: deal with it.
But this defiance comes at a cost. “I finally got it all, but it’s a tragedy” is how “Finally Free,” the next song, begins. Again, acoustic guitar helps us focus on what Elk is singing about, giving us both light and when the bigger sound of the band comes in. This is an effective use of tonal color.
“Strong,” features an irresistible 6/8 beat. “You can’t be too strong when the planet you’re standing on has been shaken to its core.” Perhaps this is why the unique cover features a black and white photo of the four members of the Mommyheads standing on a rocky mesa holding up a giant eyeball out of which a prismatic array of light is being emitted. The cover is nearly identical to their 2024 album, One Eyed Band.
The finale, “Its Only Life,” makes the grandest musical and lyrical statement of the album. The answer to all these questions about life seems to find their conclusion in the mysteries of love. Again, there is a contrast between the gentleness of acoustic guitars, which are then answered by the full band repeating “it’s only life” as the music builds to a crescendo and brings the song and the album to a close.
If you just let No Quietus play in the background, you might miss it. This is an album full of musical details and emotional singing that is worth investing time in. In addition to the previously mentioned Elk and Fisherman, the band is rounded out by Jason McNair on bass and Michael Holt on keys and vocals all of whom play well as a unit. On the Bandcamp page for this album, the band urges us to “shut off your screens, lie down, get comfy, and listen to the whole album on earbuds, headphones, or a decent speaker, while holding the text in your hands, like we did in the old days!” They’re right. This fine album is worth a close listen.
Released on Nov. 7th, 2025
1 Triumph and Crash
2 Black Veins
3 No Quietus
4 I’m your Apocalypse
5 Always Reaching
6 RaceCar Brain
7 The Beast is Back
8 Finally Free
9 Strong
10 It’s Only Life
