MOULETTES

1. "Recipe For Alchemy" (2:57) is this jazz, cabaret, or folk music? It's definitely got an old, traditional, theatric feel to it. The instrumental and vocal performances are so tight, so intricate, and performed with such smooth precision! And the arrangements are so fresh! I'm quite stunned. If I were a lyrics guy I'd probably be even more blown away. (9/10)

2. "Cannibal Song" (3:28) another rollicking sea-shanty like composition. (8.5/10)

3. "Wilderness" (3:29) multiple cellos actively playing beneath intricately harmonized vocals. (8.75/10)

4. "Devil Of Mine" (6:17) intricate mutli-voiced harmonies dramatically singing/telling a story with chamber strings weaving beneath. Wow! What an intricate arrangement! (check out the wild choreographed video on YouTube!) (8.75/10)

5. "Horses For Hearses" (3:01) the first song whose arrangement falls a little flat (or, perhaps more accurately, fails to live up the the standards established by the previous songs). (8.5/10)

6. "What A Way To Spend A Day" (5:13) opens with solo cello playing something sad and ponderous. Joined by a second cello, and then violin and field military snare drum, it takes 75 seconds to establish the foundation for this one. The vocals, once entered, are very interesting for their gradual and sometimes weaves--and for the "open" chorale chorus (like they're in a bar). Such a dramatic song. What creative vision! (9.25/10)

7. "Requiem" (feat. Emma Richardson [Band Of Skulls]) (6:46) opens with solo cello before morphing into a brilliantly arranged mood-setting 100 seconds of syncopated patterning. When the surprisingly smooth MEDIÆVAL BÆBES- like vocals enter, their story is clear while it is the instruments that tell the more interesting story. There is a shift in the fourth minute before solo vocalist Emma Richardson takes the lead. Her voice seems much more "normal" mundane than the choir-like crystalline voices of Hannah and Ruth (who continue to dazzle in their background harmonizing capacity). The bassoon is a cool addition. There is another shift for the instrumental section in the fifth minute--which meanders and morphs in several directions over the sixth and seventh minutes before the chorus of voices enters for the "big finish." Great song! (14/15)

8. "Talisman" (4:06) a jazzed up sea shanty. (8.75/10)

9. "Bloodshed In The Woodshed" (feat. Modernaire) (4:50) a theatric song of female love spurned or scorned--and the vengeful thoughts and actions thereafter. Part expression of anger and injustice, part sympathetic dirge. What genius! What talent! (9.25/10) - 94.25

10. "Going A' Gathering" - silence - "untitled song" (11:29) this is not really an eleven and a half minutes long prog epic, it's more like two normal folk pop songs joined by a long gap of silence. The first (4:35) sounds more like THE ANDREWS SISTERS than any other song on this album--making it once of the more brilliant vocal performances on an album full of breathtaking vocal performances. (9/10) Then there is three and a half minutes of silence before sounds of a couple members of the band picking up their instruments and then starting to play a slow sad song with hannah singing the plaintive lead while Ruth vocalises "ooo"s in the background with two cellos and a violin. (8.5/10)

Video - "Devil Of Mine" - awesome! Well worth checking out.

Total time 48:34

While this is not my favorite kind of music or folk music, I definitely and fully appreciate the talent in composition, vision, and performance that it takes to pull together songs like these! The vocal arrangements and performances are alone worthy of raves and adulation--are reminiscent of by-gone days and groups like The Andrews Sisters. Mega kudos Hannah and Ruth! Bravo!

B+/4.5stars; while this may not be a masterpiece of progressive rock music, it is definitely a masterpiece of progressive folk music! So, perhaps not the essential choice for all prog music lovers, I would definitely consider this essential listening to all lovers of folk and Prog Folk music.