Moulettes / The Hall of Mirrors / Jordan Reyne

Due to a Catholic education with all the trimmings, I generally run and hide whenever I get a whiff of religion. So, when it comes to pass that Moulettes celebrate the first day of 'Burmalia' at The Tabernacle, I'm naturally circumspect. As always though, knowledge dispels fear: The Tabernacle, with its round brickwork glowing golden in the fading light, and its pointed towers scoring the Notting Hill sky, wouldn't look out of place on the cover of the band's latest album, 'The Bear's Revenge', and it seems the perfect place to showcase their talents. Burmalia is, as it happens, a Roman southern solstice festival, and knowing how the Romans liked to party, it's hard to stay away.



Jordan Reyne gets things going. It's just her, a guitar, two microphones and a bunch of industrial sounds on a tape loop, and she does a fine job of warming up the small but discerning crowd that has gathered. Her 'folk industrial mash-up' version of 'Silver Dagger', is a highlight.

Next up it's Hall of Mirrors. Their music evokes a bygone age, when we lit our homes with lava lamps and went on strike a lot. My pulse quickens on seeing them because the singer appears to be dressed as Princess Leah, but on further inspection it seems that she has more of a Kate Bush thing going on; sounds a bit like her too.



Hall of Mirrors have a couple of things against them this evening. Firstly, they seem to be suffering the first of the many electrical issues of the night: not everything being played on stage is making it out through the PA. Secondly, for whatever reason, the crowd here is touch more mature than you might expect at a Moulettes gig. The upshot is that most of us remember this stuff the first time around, and maybe find it a bit derivative. Nevertheless, if youth is on your side, and if you like coffee shops, book groups, and old films with split-screen shots, lens flare and vignetting, then you're probably going to love this lot.

If Hall of Mirrors get their inspiration from the seventies, Moulettes get theirs from somewhere altogether more fantastic: Moule-world. Many of their songs paint pictures of Moule-world and tell tales of its inhabitants. In Moule-world, bears travel in hot air balloons and the clouds, the sun and the moon are powered by clockwork. Visions of Moule-world are projected onto a backdrop behind the band, and as the night unfolds we are led on a musical journey, deeper and deeper, into this mythical, magical place....



Moulettes take the stage to the strains of seventies stoner rock, which might seem an unusual choice for a band who perform entirely on acoustic instruments. But as they launch into their instrumental opener, 'The Bear's Revenge', doubt floats away like a bear in a balloon. They rock so hard that they trip the noise limiter. OK, Iron Maiden probably aren't going to be worried, but if I was in Def Leppard, I'd definitely be thinking about hanging up the spandex.

The mood builds and bubbles during 'Horses for Hearses'; but it's when the play the new single, aptly named 'Uca's Dance', that the dancing really begins. Another tale from Moule-world, the song tells the tale of a fire dancer who releases a captive bear. The bear takes bloody revenge on its tormentors before escaping in a hot air balloon, and, in doing so, gives the latest album its title.



As the performance unfolds, it becomes clear that Moulettes appear to have a more collaborative set-up than most of the bands you hear: everyone sings and everyone plays, brilliantly. It's Hannah Moulette, on cello and vocals, whose job it is to go on vision quests to Moule-world and come back with the material but, watching the band perform, it would be hard to single out a distinct front-person.

If you had to pick one; tonight at least, it would be Ruth Skipper. She's attired in a dirndl and she's rocking that bassoon of hers for all she's worth. She suffers repeated electrocutions from her microphone without dropping a note and, when some 'people on the guest list' talk over one of Hannah's introductions, she pointedly tells them, "You have to keep quiet, or I'll kick your ass." They believe her too: not a peep for the rest of the show.



Moulettes present a varied musical canvas, covered with brush-strokes ranging from broad and bold to deft and detailed. Their vocal harmonies are lush and layered, and their musicality is second to none. The pared-back 'Devil of Mine' is full of theatrical sass and finger clicking nuance. The crowd get in on the act during 'Circle Song', swaying and singing along. The plaintive, barely accompanied 'Songbird' is a highlight: if you meet your future spouse at a Moulettes gig, this would probably be the first dance at the wedding. 'Requiem' has chops that rock bands would kill for, and 'Unlock the Doors' get everyone stomping, with bags of ballsy bass.

The evening's finale is 'Blood and Thunder', a prog odyssey, from the darkest corners of Moule-world. Hannah introduces the song, telling of a place of dark caves, dark woods, dark towers and dark characters. We hear of a kidnapper who imprisons people in a macabre, living museum, and we hear of a mechanical cyborg horse. A glance around the venue, at this point, reveals scenes of uneasy, shuffling doubt. Does Moule-world really exist? Doubt is finally banished by a visit from 'The Inventor', aka Arthur Brown. Hannah was telling the truth all along: Moule-world is real, and anyone who is friendly with bears can go there.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.