Street sits down with MoMs, Princeton's Vampire Weekend

What do spacesuits, Abraham Lincoln and a mandolin have in common? Answer: a miscellaneous group of five Princeton graduates who call themselves Miracles of Modern Science. Whether it's the string instruments-plus-drums setup, the classical and choral influence or the theatrical performances, it is clear that MOMS is anything but your typical rock band. Their music is eclectic in its pop sensibilities and classical influences. But more than that, it's deliberately anachronistic. The band describes itself on its Myspace as "a Civil War string band shot into outer space on a giant disco-ball spaceship" and even has a picture of Abe Lincoln lovingly adorned on its EP cover to top it off.

"We also sometimes describe our music as how a Civil War-era band would imagine the music of the future," lead singer and double bassist Evan Younger '08 noted. "The idea is we're taking older textures and applying them to more modern music." And the Abe Lincoln fixation? "I'm not sure how that started. In our song ‘MR2,' there's this section that sounds Civil War-esque. But it was basically just a joke that sort of got out of hand."

However you describe the music, MOMS have definitely earned more than Lincoln's approval, booking weekly gigs and receiving critical praise for their unique, yet strikingly modern, appeal. Music magazine Spin recently listed the band as one of 25 must-hear artists at the CMJ Festival, and Wired.com hit the nail on the head when it confessed itself "hard-pressed to think of another pop band that uses only classical instruments, especially one that dresses up in silver space suit costumes."

Before their ascent into the indie music scene, MOMS began as a few modest Princeton students searching for people with similar interests. "I started the band my freshman year at Princeton with my long-lost-musical-brother Evan Younger. We knew from our very first exchanges on Facebook that we wanted to play music together," mandolin-player Josh Hirshfeld ‘08 recalled. After their fated online meeting, the duo began honing in on the musical style that would become MOMS' trademark - though not without first experimenting with a variety of sounds that ranged from country songs to sea-shanty sing-alongs.

Violinist Kieran Ledwidge ‘08 joined the crew after guest starring in a rendition of "Shout" by Tears for Fears at an open-mic night at Forbes College. "I was playing in another band that night, but I ended up joining the musical circus," he said. "It was a fateful evening."

MOMS soon recruited Geoff McDonald ‘07, a cellist who sang alongside Younger in the Katzenjammers. After, drummer Tyler Pines ‘09 caught wind of the unusual band and became its sole non-string member. Until junior year, the group played largely around Princeton in an almost "extracurricular" fashion. MOMS' first gig was at Cafe Vivian in Frist Campus Center, and they have been frequent guests on the Street, especially at Terrace Club.

So what makes MOMS' sound so distinctive? The short answer is: everything. Younger's musical interests include jazz and old country, as well as Freddie Mercury and Roy Orbison. Both McDonald and Younger have a cappella and classical influences, while Pine's role as drummer provides the only grounding rock-band element. Josh, on the other hand, introduced a taste for indie music but ditched the electric guitar for the mandolin to create a better blending of sound.

And if that wasn't enough, Ledwidge has dabbled in post-rock, metal, mariachi music and everything in between. "From my time back in Australia, I recall a fair bit from my days in a recorder ensemble and I have fond memories of playing in a xylophone group. My kazoo abilities, as ever, leave much to be desired," he said. As they admit in their bio, they're pretty hard to pin down: "This is no string tribute to rock. This is MOMS."

After graduating from Princeton, MOMS relocated to Brooklyn, released their self-titled EP in 2008 and have been performing almost nonstop since then. They haven't yet quit their day jobs - Younger does tech support for the Lewis Center, while Hirshfeld works in the mailroom of a talent agency - but they have played at Sarah Lawrence, Wesleyan, various venues around Manhattan and several hip-hop clubs. Their live shows are anything but ordinary, with their unique pseudo-orchestral aesthetic leaving audiences perplexed and intrigued almost every time.

And they used to be even weirder: In their time at Princeton, MOMS were renowned for wearing silver space costumes in concert. Sadly, after years of wear and tear - and gallons of Febreze - the outfits were finally laid to rest. But if you're worried their shows are visually dreary, don't be. "There's a lot of jumping around and yelling," Younger explained. "We like to get into it, put on a show."

An example: Younger lay down flat on the floor at their concert at Terrace this past weekend, which Hirshfeld described as "one of the best shows we've ever played." "We've had our share of disaster moments [at Terrace] with strings breaking," Younger noted. "But I think it's because we always give it our all there."

In fact, they gave so much that the Terrace show is going to be MOMS' last live performance of 2009. The band plans to take a break from performing over the holidays and return to songwriting and recording, as it works on an EP or possibly a full-length album to release next year. Though Younger and Hirshfeld have dominated the songwriting process in the past, recently there has been greater collaboration with the rest of the band.

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Younger describes the process as one based on musicality, noting that lyrics tend to come as last-minute additions. "Neither of us [Hirshfeld and Younger] consider ourselves poets, so we procrastinate on it," he said. But even if the lyrics aren't a major concern, MOMS continue to be progressive in their sound, experimenting more and more with extended techniques such as hitting the instruments with their bows and playing ponticello to create abstract elements.

Ultimately, the band's goals for the future are simple. "The dream for us is just to be able to make a living from our music and stay true to what we do," Younger said. McDonald is even more optimistic: "I think MOMS is really going to change things for health care. Put this country back on the right track."