Mama ft. Antonella – Apex Predators (2025)
A tale of love at first sight in the style of Hugh Grant rom-com, producer Gavin Monaghan said his story with Antonella Gambotto-Burke took place when “Antonella met me in a candy store, turned around and smiled, and that’s when I fell for the leader of the pack”. As fantastical as that may be, Gambotto-Burke shared that she and Monaghan met in 2022 “when an industry friend insisted she go to his studio to record her first song…” Not as rom-com, but still serendipity that led to a bond of two like-minded souls uncovering the enigmatic project, Mama ft. Antonella.
Entering 2025 with their nine-track album Apex Predators, Monaghan and Gambotto-Burke offer a boundary-breaking mish-mash of various styles from Americana, soul, jazz, pop and folk in an electronic meets organic slap of vintage and contemporary vibes. It’s almost like spinning about in a sonic tumble dryer, each sound colourful clothing whipping past your head, removing the dreary dankness of wet washing to something fresh, clean and warm.
Opening with ‘Commercial Road + A Call To Light’ and ‘Morning’, we find ourselves caught in the anthemic anti-authoritarian 60s folk music; however, as ‘Morning’ draws to a close, a somewhat pop-inspired hint of soulful jazz-rock rears its head. Showcasing the transition from folksy to jazzy blues in ‘A River Running Wild’, Gambotto-Burke lifts from bold clarity to grittier blues.
Moving onto ‘Ghost’, you become lost in a hazy sonic forest watched by demons from behind the trees. Raw, creepy, somewhat eerie, and a true flood of hard rock and grunge starting to overtake the blues tone. We follow into the hard rock ‘Bloodlands’, which transfers to a soft rock ‘Love’s Has-Been’ with a wistful ending. ‘Some Love’ revels in a pool of 90s alternative rock, but then ‘If I Can’t Have You’ perks with psychedelic rock where you lose yourself entirely.
For me, Monaghan’s arrangement of drums, guitars, bass, keyboards and synths align perfectly with each theme and style. Pounding, crashing, scorching, soaring, every instrument wraps you in a hypnotic kaleidoscopic haze bound by the elegant production. Yet, as much as there is sophistication in the production, every track glints with vulnerability, fragility, and depth in its composition. For me, however, it is Gambotto-Burke’s obscure vocals that up the ante throughout Apex Predators. In other words, the melody is great, but it is the enigmatic tale told in Gambotto-Burke’s voice that leads you through the highs and lows of Apex Predators.
It is always difficult to choose a favourite single on albums, and there are several favourites here; however, ‘If You Like’ seems to call out. The final track, its Americana-infused sound unites with the opening ‘Commercial Road + A Call To Light’ seemingly coming full circle in this “post-industrial love story”.
Find out more about Mama ft. Antonella on their official website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
