“Rivet Gun” came fast for Annie Tammearu—both as a song and as a career-making moment.
“By the first guitar loop that I made for it, I knew I was gonna love this song, but I didn’t expect it to go where it did,” says Tammearu, who records and performs as Mother Soki. “I was so in touch with this song.”
Tammearu was so eager for people to hear “Rivet Gun” she posted it as a rough demo on social media. She didn’t think much of that—she’s been leaking demos online for a while.
Besides, she had just officially released a different song, “Honey I’m—,” after teaming up with manager Don Robertson. “We were planning on doing this simple roll out plan to introduce me as an artist,” Tammearu says. “The very next day, ‘Rivet Gun’ started blowing up.”
“I called Don and told him this was happening and he was like, ‘Oh, just wait on it,’" she recalls. "And then he called me back two hours later and was like, ‘Yeah, we need to get this song finished.’”
You can hear why “Rivet Gun” made its mark on TikTok. It’s built around a simple, indelible three-note melody, and the trick for Tammearu when fleshing it out was to not get in the way of that perfect hook.
Tammearu credits her collaborator Jack Pfeffer with helping her complete the track. Pfeffer is also her boyfriend—knock dating apps if you want, but Tammearu found a partner and a bandmate on Hinge. “Our first hangout I just went over to his studio and we started making music,” she says.
Rounding out the Mother Soki team are Tammearu's "closest friend" Elijah Herchert and roommate Moe Todd. "We wake up and we're like, 'Let’s make some music,'" she says.
Tammearu was going to college in Chicago for fashion design before remaking herself as a musician. “It’s like I discovered a different part of my brain when I started making music,” she says.
The singles Mother Soki has released, like "Rivet Gun," are wells of reverb haunted by skeletal guitars and Tammearu's dreamy, faintly gothy vocals.
“People ask if Mother Soki is a character and I think she is,” she says. “She’s like a time traveler visiting these different eras of music.”
As for the real-life Annie Tammearu, life hasn't always been that glamorous. When "Rivet Gun" hit, she says, "I was just working that whole week too at my coffee shop job, and I was like, 'I’ve got so much to do right now but I’ve gotta help this customer real quick.'"
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