Although it might make millennials feel their age, the sound of alternative rock is vintage cool to younger generations. Scores of new bands have hit on a sound featuring the feedback drenched guitars and loud quiet loud structure. Some have even produced songs that hold up well next to classics from the ’90s. One of the brightest stars in the alt-rock revival is Momma, the band led by singer-guitarists Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten. The band refine their slacker rock style on Welcome to My Blue Sky, their fourth album

Welcome to My Blue Sky packs in alt rock nostalgia while building on it. Momma doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel, nor do they need to. The band has hit on their own version sound that still has a lot to give, even three decades later.

Lead single “Ohio All the Time” shows off Momma’s formula. The harmony vocals of Friedman and Weingarten surrounded by chugging riffs leading up to a hooky and memorable chorus. This formula provides the backbone for a lot of the album. Welcome to My Blue Sky doesn’t offer a lot of different sounds. Instead it hones in on Momma’s mix of shoegaze feedback, grunge guitars and classic alternative melodies. You can hear a bit of various different bands in here, but none of them had two singers doing close harmony over this sound

“I Want You (Fever)”, another single, has that same dynamic with a bit more of a punchier and simpler chorus. The song is a three minute and 45 second time machine ride to 1995, when the likes of Veruca Salt and Catherine Wheel were scoring hits on alternative rock radio. It’s not quite the grunge revival sound that bands like Fleshwater have made their name on in the last few years, but it’s closely connected.

While most of the songs on Welcome to My Blue Sky are fundamentally similar, that’s not necessarily a bad thing when the music provides such a good time and such a refinement of this sound. Either way, there are some songs that break from what’s become their trademark sound. The album has a handful of jangly folk rock numbers that provide variety to the set. These include the opener “Sincerely” and deeper cuts like “New Friend” and “Take Me With You”. On these tracks, Momma trades in their pedals to ride on the rhythm with a strummed acoustic guitar. The mix of high voltage alt rock and these more introspective numbers link them back to ‘90s forebears like the Gin Blossoms.

Welcome to My Blue Sky is a solid throwback to when alternative rock ruled the world. Fans of bands from that era will find a lot to love about the twelve songs they present here. The album is also a worthy followup to the band’s breakthrough Household Name, and the set of songs here compete with that album’s best tracks like “Medicine” and “Speeding 72” in the catchiness department. The band have settled into a groove, and are good at what they do.

The album sounds like a summer car ride down the highway. If you’re looking for a no frills rock record, Momma has delivered one of the better offerings in recent memory.

Welcome to My Blue Sky is available on Bandcamp.

Image courtesy of Polyvinyl.