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Moulettes + Bonsai Pirates + Cathy Burke

Venue: Mr Kyps
Town: Poole
Date: 26th April
Website: http://www.moulettes.co.uk

I'd been looking forward to this one for a while. I hadn't seen the Moulettes since they played at the excellent Purbeck Folk Festival last year and to have them in walking distance could definitely be considered a bonus.

Local singer-songwriter, Cathy Burke, opened the proceedings, predominantly playing songs of of her most recent album, the well received "Exes, Losers And Other Men". Cathy always seems to play music with a certain twinkle in her eye. Unlike a lot of singer-songwriters, there's an amount of humour in her work, not of the Jake Thakray level, more the rye smile of a keen observationist.

Cathy was a good start to the evening, her wit gives the songs a certain zest. It also creates a good contrast with the more serious songs that she includes in her set. The role of the opening act is to build the atmosphere and Cathy definitely did that.

She was followed on stage by the Bonsai Pirates. The Bonsai Pirates are best described as a party band, the female drummer dressed as a parrot, the bass player a lobster, which sort of made the efforts of lead singer and guitarist wearing a tricorn hat and pseudo-pirate gear look a bit lame.

Unfortunately a bit lame also applied to their performance, though in fairness it was more that they were the wrong band in the wrong place. Their sing-a-long, call and response songs struck the wrong call with the audience on the night. A late night gig with a more beered up audience and I think they could go down a storm.

And that just left the headliners for the night, The Moulettes. The Moulettes are a band that bring a real sense of drama to their music. They have a sound that is truly distinctive, if you know another band with cello as the lead instrument with a lot of the bass support coming from the bassoon, please let me know.

The great thing about the Moulettes, is that they carry off their instrumentation without a sense of novelty, even when lead vocalist and cello player is perched on a hand built throne that would give the peacock throne a run for its money.

One of the things that sets the Moulettes aside from many of their peers is their arrangements. Their use of instrumentation to install real drama into their songs is pretty much unparalleled, even amongst other proponents of the gothic folk style and that's before you layer Hanna's extraordinary voice over the top.

There is a dynamic to her voice both on its own and in harmony that demands attention. It's one that works both in the live and studio environment and is a core component to the elements that make the Moulettes such a compelling act, definitely worth catching if they're playing a venue near you.

Words and Pictures Neil King