"I never got Ohio / Baby, now I do," is the lyrical anchor of Momma's first new material since 2022's Household Name, the lauded third record from the Brooklyn-based band helmed by high school friends Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten. I can't claim to be in the same experiential plane as the latter half of the couplet — if I've been to Ohio, it wasn't remarkable enough to remember — but I am intrigued by the reverence given to the state in songs like this and the National's "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (one of their best!).
Of course, there's also that memorable quote from How I Met Your Mother, where insufferable college-age Ted Mosby declares, "My parents live in Ohio — I live in the moment." Momma's driving, grungy take on it leans into that purported hedonism (knowing Ted Mosby, it probably wasn't actually true): "Never been bad but I'll try / I'm putting up a fight / I'm fucking up my life / I'm running to you, right?"
The repetition of the word "right?" gives all these depictions of Ohio that slipperiness necessary to keep ever really getting it at bay. Mythicism aside, something about it certainly seems to make a worthy muse for riff-laden rock rumination (I'm from Ontario and in no position to judge).