Sexuality, Shame and Creativity w/ MOTHERMARY (#163)

Mormons on Mushrooms

We've got a steamy one for you this week! We are joined by exmo artists Elyse and Larena from MOTHERMARY to chat all about sexual repression, shame and creative expression. Elise and Larena share their Mormon exit stories, hitting on topics such as:

• Creepy, overly-explicit Bishop interviews
• Temple names
• Shame around Sexual experiences
• Ways we tried to trick ourselves that we weren't actually masturbating
• Damaging church teachings such as The Miracle of Forgiveness
• Reclaiming sexual expression
• Channeling creative energy into art
• "Everyone is an artist"
• Psychedelic experiences
• And much more!!

MOTHERMARY makes retro-futuristic Art Pop. Named after the mother of Christ, the ultimate symbol of religious hypocrisy and the impossible expectations placed on women, the bicoastal project is the brainchild of identical twins Elyse & Larena, who grew up in a Mormon family in Missoula, Montana, the youngest of nearly a dozen children. “It was our world… our paradigm,” Larena says about those days. “We were brainwashed.”

Elyse was the first to get out. After leaving the repression of religion and experiencing similar barriers in the music industry, Elyse taught herself music production. “I wanted to have control over the sound. TOTAL control.” Larena followed suit, left the church, and rejoined Elyse in NYC. Creating music together became a form of therapy. A way to heal.

The sound Elyse and Larena have created is indeed extremely specific. The contrast of light and dark — of exquisite, ethereal vocals and dark, even gritty instrumentation — is elusive and engrossing, a unique juxtaposition that’s entirely in keeping with the sensibility of sisters who have always refused to be pinned down or defined.

The group split studio time equally between NYC and LA over the last two years and on January 28th, 2022, they served their mesmerizing debut, I Am Your God, via Italians Do It Better. A Sin Wave work of Art Pop that’s utterly singular, a dazzling hybrid of the old and the new.
Check out their music and follow them at:

www.mothermary.band
Instagram: @mothermarymusic
Youtube
Spotify
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