“...the more beautiful they are, the more poisonous they are” - An Interview with Moulettes (and tour dates)
Alt-Folk? Rock? Prog? Folk? Moulettes are somewhere in all those music styles. I always lack words when I have to use words to describe their music. It’s just one of those very unique bands who are always mind-blowing when you listen to them, see them live. So, here is a little impression from their current album “Preternatural” to which you can listen to while reading our fine interview. Singer, cellist, guitarist and auto-harp player Hannah Miller took some time and answered my questions about their highly fascinating album “Preternatural” and the European special edition of the same album where the songs were recorded in countless different languages.
Why a complete album about the wonderful world of nature?
The idea started to grow wings after reading an article about the recently discovered microscopic creature - Halicephalobus Mephisto Nematode worm - it lives deep underground so it doesn’t need sunlight or oxygen to survive. It lives under huge pressure and in intense heat - its discovery redefined the perimeters of life!
I loved this idea - that there is still so much to discover - we have no idea of the scope and depth of complexity in nature. For example it is often said that we know more about space than we do about the bottom of the ocean. When we had decided on this theme the songs almost wrote themselves, such is the innate artistry, power and poetry in the natural world.
How did you choose the animal you made a song about? Beauty, fascinating facts, randomly picking a page in an animal lexicon?
A few I have always been fascinated by - Octopuses, Coral, Starlings - some I found through watching David Attenborough films and footage (the celebrated English documentary maker). Some were found going down internet rabbit holes…
The idea was to use other species to look at humankind, to hold up a mirror… to give room for the ideas and themes to come through- symbiosis, transience, resourcefulness, long-term thinking. dominion, interconnectivity… themes that are vital at this point in history to understanding our relationship with the natural world.
Was is difficult to stay with this topic during the course of writing the album or did you had to break out?
I love having perimeters- I think this gives you more freedom… There is still plenty more that good be written on this subject - we could probably make a trilogy! Maybe we will… I still want to write about the Tardigrade (AKA the Moss Piglet) that can survive in space, and the blob fish…
„Medusa“ - for me the lyrics and the melody are very seductive and made me think more of the Greek myth that the jelly fish. Was it meant to have such a double meaning?
Yes, it was intentional to play with that tension. The adult sexually mature jellyfish is called a medusa so that was the starting point, but you can’t ignore a big symbolic signpost like that! The Medusa myth is everywhere - it echoes through cultures, illustrating the tension between Beauty and Horror.
On the most basic level, jellyfish are very beautiful but can be deadly - and often the more beautiful they are, the more poisonous they are.
But the ‘Immortal’ jellyfish is able to return to its immature ‘Polyp’ stage - it is able to effectively become a child again. This is where the idea of a dialogue between the two comes from - two self-reliant personalities in dialogue with each other, like a mother and child, the beholder and the beheld… «As far as the eye can see» it was meant to be a conversation about memory and experience.
How did the recording process change since the previous album „Constellations“?
For ‘Constellations’ we were lucky enough to work with a chamber orchestra, made up of our friends and fellow musicians from Brighton - it had over 30 guest players and singers and was a really expansive project.
For ‘Preternatural’ we wanted to make a record that sounded like a band in a room… with the same attention to detail and intricacy of ideas, but with a smaller palette of sounds, self produced and mixed by Jim Mortimore.
When you work with guests musicians like Fredrik Kinbom – do you have them in your head while you're writing the song or does he came in later?
We were on tour with Fredrik when the song ‘Hidden World’ was taking shape, so the lap steel became a real feature sound of that song, we evolved it together playing the song around Europe. Usually we have something in mind first, but life is full of pleasant surprises when creative people get together.
When did the idea for the special edition for “Preternatural” came along? Did you re-record the whole album or just the vocals?
It’s a real mixture. Friends from all over the world were involved in recording this collection of tracks. It features contributions in Arabic, Armenian, Dutch, Gaeilge, Creole, Swedish, Latvian, Italian, and German. At one point I think 7 of us in 7 different studios across the world were concurrently working on it! Some of the alternate language versions use instrumentals from the album, then there are remixes that use and mutate the original sounds from the album, and some completely new versions like Fredrick Kinboms’ Swedish version ‘En Gömd Väld» and the never-before heard B-sides.
We wanted to make something to celebrate our European release and tour.
I love being a part of the European community, being able to travel and work on the mainland. The UK referendum has been a dark farce played out for the gain of a few individuals, and this has been the backdrop for the last 8 months - grubby opportunism and divisive rhetoric.
We wanted to make something that celebrated collaboration, creativity and communication.
That's why we do what we do - for the opportunity to meet new people and experience new things on the one planet we all share.
Thank you for the interview!
If you have the chance, go and see Moulettes on their current Preternatural Tour:
13.02.2017, FRANKFURT, Nachtleben (DE)
14.02.2017, KÖLN, Studio 672 (DE)
15.02.2017, HAMBURG, Molotow Bar (DE)
16.02.2017, LEIPZIG, Moritzbastei (DE)
17.02.2017, BERLIN,Badehaus (DE)
18.02.2017, GOUDSTEEG, Zwolle (NL)
19.02.2017, COPENHAGEN, Loppen (DK)
21.02.2017, AMSTERDAM, Indie Classical Rave (NL)
22.02.2017, LUXEMBOURG CITY, De Gudde Wellen (LUX)
24.02.2017, RIGA, Club Depo (LAT)
25.02.2017, LIEPAJA, Fontaine Palace (LAT)
26.02.2017, RIGA, Valmiermuiza (acoustic) (LAT)
29.04.2017, HELSINGBORG, The Tivoli (SE)
