The Moors for Prog Folk

The Moors are a two person band from Boston, with one self-titled release in 2004 (re-released in 2007).  Their music can be categorized as prog folk, with heavy Celtic, pagan, and medieval influences.  Their music contains beautiful, soaring vocals, driving percussion and bass lines, and virtuosic fretless guitar riffs to create lush, enchanting soundscapes over a prog backdrop.

The primary driving force behind the band is Sharynne MacLeod NicMhacha.  She is a Celtic scholar, singer, musician, and author, trained in Celtic Studies at Harvard University. She is a direct descendant of Clan MacLeod, long recorded as having connections with the “Fairy Folk.” Her work focuses on preserving the indigenous shamanic wisdom of the Celtic world. Sharynne presents at colleges and teaching centers in Ireland, Scotland, and North America.

Guitar wizardry is provided by Scott Dakota. Says Scott of his guitar work: "The songs were all arranged around live looping to build the layers and textures, and no keyboards, synths, or basses were used. Everything here is fretless guitar, tuned drum machine, and vocals.  What functions as bass is the low range of the wide-range fretless guitar, which covers bass through guitar range. It's tuned low to high starting from Eb a half step below bass guitar low E, up in open 5ths. Eb Bb F C G D. The idea being, with careful part writing and some looping assist, I can cover most of the octaves needed for rock orchestration."

Bandmembers:

Sharynne MacLeod NicMhacha: Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Chanting, Flute, Tin Whistle (Irish Pennywhistle), Harp, Viol, Recorder (Tenor), Flute (Tibetan Wood), Viola, Bells, Percussion.

Scott Dakota: Guitar (Wide-range Fretless, Self-modified), Effects, Viol (Bowed Two String Fretless), Percussion, Drum Programming, Backing Vocals, Overtone Voice, Tape Loops, Drone, Noises.

Links:

Official website: http://www.mobiusbandwidth.com/themoors.html
Official music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yLcyPOHI6M
Album and Samples: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/themoors
Myspace: https://myspace.com/themoorsofficial/music/songs

GrafHaarschnitt wrote: Why isnt there any ethno prog subgenre? Thats where i would put them at least for the song example. post rock? eclectic prog? crossover? a difficult one... ok listened another one... i´d put them indo/raga prog because they have many ethnic influences especially from india and the music is almost always trance like.

Edited by noni - February 04 2018 at 03:34

Sounds intriguing.  I'm looking for the next big Folk thing.