For Mother Soki, music is a form of time travel. The project of Minneapolis singer-songwriter Annie Tammearu is built around the fleeting memories, childhood associations, and complicated emotions that can bring the past rushing back into the present. On her latest EP, Act 2, she leans further into that idea, creating an atmospheric collection designed to feel like rediscovering a familiar scent or stepping into a room that instantly transports you to another point in your life.
The concept comes from an experience at one of her shows, when her tour manager overheard an audience member describe the performance as a kind of time travel. For Tammearu, that reaction captured exactly what she wants her music to accomplish. Sentimental and nostalgic by nature, she gravitates toward the strange, sometimes uncomfortable feelings connected to growing up and trying to understand who you are. Through hazy production and velvety vocals, Mother Soki turns those emotions into something otherworldly yet strangely familiar.
Although she initially pursued visual art and fashion design, music gradually became Tammearu’s primary creative outlet. Growing up in Minneapolis, she eventually moved to Chicago to study fashion at Columbia College, where she began making music for the first time. Her artist name came from her childhood dog, Soko. After a year of college, she left school and returned home to focus on songwriting and production.
For Tammearu, that creative process is driven by discovery. She describes songwriting as a way to surprise herself, with one unexpected sound inspiring the next until a track begins to take shape. That instinctive approach has become central to the Mother Soki sound, allowing her to build songs around atmosphere and emotion rather than following conventional structures.
The project reached a wider audience in 2025 when the single ‘Rivet Gun’ unexpectedly went viral. Its unusual textures, dreamlike production, and soft, velvety vocals caught listeners’ attention across social media and streaming platforms, accumulating more than 26 million plays on Spotify alone. The momentum led to Fantasy, an EP released toward the end of 2025. Despite the sudden attention, Tammearu has remained focused on the simple motivation behind her work: creating music and sharing it with people, regardless of how it is received.
With Act 2, she takes a more deliberate approach, allowing everyday life in Minneapolis to shape the pace of the project while exploring a wider range of artistic influences. The music draws inspiration from Cocteau Twins, Prince, and the more experimental work of Joni Mitchell during the 1980s. Mitchell’s ability to move freely through melodies and create expressive vocal lines particularly resonated with Tammearu, informing the EP’s fluid, unconventional approach to singing.
Visual references also helped shape the project’s atmosphere. The films of David Lynch, along with the fantastical puppetry and strange, dreamlike worlds of The NeverEnding Story and Labyrinth, contributed to the balance of beauty and unease that runs throughout the release. Working closely with producers Jack Pfeffer and Bradley Hale, known for their work with Now, Now and Claud, Tammearu aimed to create something that feels unsettling without losing its accessibility.
The EP opens with ‘Much Cry, Little Wool,’ a weightless introduction built around flute-like synths, delicate chimes, and a deep, yearning bassline. From there, ‘Thicken’ moves closer to pop territory, pairing a steady drum loop with layered synths that shift between shadow and light. Across both tracks, Tammearu returns to the challenge of letting go of control, reflecting the uncertainty of growing up and moving through periods of personal change.
That introspection becomes darker on ‘Mussel’ and ‘The Rot.’ The former circles around the repeated line “Nothing’s ever gonna change,” set against sinister synths that reinforce its sense of resignation. ‘The Rot’ takes a more subdued approach, using creeping textures and softly murmured vocals to capture the helplessness associated with bed-rotting and emotional stagnation.
‘Easy’ provides a striking contrast. Built primarily around acoustic guitar and vocals, with ghostly details scattered throughout, it strips away much of the dense production heard elsewhere on the EP. Tammearu considers it the most experimental track on the release precisely because of its simplicity. By stepping away from the drums, synths, and layered sounds that usually define her work, the song briefly resets the listening experience, bringing everything back to its most basic elements.
Vocals also played an unconventional role in shaping the EP. Rather than always beginning with fully formed lyrics, Tammearu often started with gibberish, finding the cadence and emotional character of a melody before settling on the words. The result is a collection in which the voice becomes another instrument, floating through the production and contributing to the music’s dreamlike atmosphere.
Tammearu describes Act 2 as a journal entry reflecting a period of transition. Its songs move through uncertainty, repetition, nostalgia, and the uncomfortable process of becoming a person, capturing a moment when the future remains unclear and the past continues to influence the present.
That tension is what makes Mother Soki’s music so compelling. Act 2 offers no simple escape from difficult feelings. Instead, it finds beauty in their ambiguity, creating a sound world where memories can feel both comforting and unsettling. Like a familiar sensation that appears without warning, the EP leaves listeners suspended somewhere between what has been, what is, and whatever comes next.