Moulettes
Album: The Bear's Revenge
Label: Balling The Jack
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.moulettes.co.uk

"The Bear's Revenge" kicks off with the Moulettes' most recent single, "Sing Unto Me" and is the most dramatic opening to an album I've heard in a long while. A vocal driving tour de force that sets the tone for the rest of the album and one which shows that the band's self-titled debut album was no fluke.

This is an album that's as much about performance and feels as if it's chosen the dance macabre as a template, as it revels in a self imposed gothic glory that makes Mary Shelley look like she was only playing with the genre. Ok that last statement might be a little over the top but I'm guessing you're getting the idea now.

The Moulettes are an octet which gives them plenty of opportunity to build up layers of instruments and vocals, both separately and together, but, importantly they also know when not to. That allows for delightful moments where single singers and instruments come into their own as well as providing a stark contrast with the fuller sound of everyone.

Similarly the album gives scope to different paces, "Someone Who You Love" is as good a fairground waltz as you'll find anywhere. It's not the formal waltz of the country house, this is waltz of the village hall delivered by a motley array of instrumentation that may have been collected in the village over the years, though with one exceptional village band.

"The Bear's Revenge" is not an album that over concerns it's self with the mundane, it barely bothers with reality, this is an album that spills it's self off into flights of fantasy. This is where you could hear a song singing it's last lament or bump into a wandering wood nymph going about her business. There are times where it does sound pastoral albeit a songscape where anything can and does happen.

Even allowing for the size of the band in the first place, they've still left plenty of space for guests, most notably Liz Green, who delivers vocals on the album signoff, "Blood & Thunder" which sees the Moulettes almost augmented to an orchestra.

This is an album that comes straight at you and it's not looking to take prisoners. It's an album that overwhelms you not just with its aural power, but in its use of rhythm and vocal syncopation. This is an album that once heard is not easily forgotten, not that you'ld want to, not by a long shot.

Neil King