Uterus Cottage
February 2010
01 Be the you, the best that you are
02 The queue for the brochures
03 The ghost of Peggy Mount
04 Find me on the Map that you Forgot to Bring
05 Under Flying Arches
06 Cut and Cover
07 Twistbitter
08 Catching bees by starlight
09 Onto the Wheels and Hopes
10 Magistrate
11 A Space the Shape of Home for Humble Men
12 Flimsy runs my bones
13 Inside the Laughing Wood
14 A Tense Bracken of Lard
A one off special release in aid of the Haiti earthquake this release can only be sourced direct from Moff via www.bmycharity.com/moffskellington with all proceeds going to UNICEF. Details can be sourced from Moff's My Space Page.
2010 sees Monsieur Skellington in fine fettle - he has lost none of his abstract other worldliness yet he has somehow achieved a recording that might achieve more radio, or other arcane delivery mechanisms like the I-Pod, play. Ironic that this is not an official release, but a special.
After a trilogy of opening Moff classics including the arresting "Ghost of Peggy Mount" (and if you don't know who Peggy is then get on your Wickedpiddler and find out), there is a memorable blues ramble entitled "Find me a map....etc" which feels like a breathless child trying to break through the shell of an egg to indulge in some swaggering delta like activity. The insanely catchy "Under Flying Arches" balances the Moff schema with folk idioms to create a rich confection of joyous abandon. The longest piece on the album it forms an important centre piece to the material around it.
With "Cut and Cover" however we are back into the surreal maelstrom of Moff-world, sounding not unlike something that might emerge from a Eastern European ghetto (if such things still exist) , this dense and mesmeric dance with its memorable sound-bites makes me think of "Waiting for Godot" or something else that might spin from Beckett's pen. "Twistbitter", which is of a similar ilk, is a spoken word piece with aching background sounds which morphs gently into the succulent rhythms of "Catching bees by starlight". In several instances throughout this album I am reminded of the fractured atonalities of The Residents, and at the same time the scattered rhythms of the Sun Ra Arkestra. This instrumental coalesces a range of disparate influences into a lovingly crafted whole.
Listening to Moff always leaves unanswered questions in my head - none more so than with "Onto the wheels and ropes" which makes me think of workmen breaking their backs in the hot sun delivering the industrial revolution through rural landscapes - the questions in my mind are "was this what he really means?".
A Moff album would not be complete without with one of his wonderful waltzes, and the sultry sounds of "Magistrate" describe some grotesque wandering through the mists of one Bramwell Bronte's drug induced dreams. The spring driven "A space the shape...." deals in serial repetition and suggests a direction derived from some mutated trip-hop world (heaven forfend!!) - welcome to Moff's house - take your shoes off and sit down.
The variety on the album is outstanding, eschewing the usual voice manipulation in the most part, the harem sounds of "Flimsy Runs in My Bones" for example offers a variety of musical backgrounds that enhance the rich lyrical dexterity herein.
The last two tracks on the album are compelling closers - the spoken word of "Laughing Wood" a tasty aperitif to the stunning "A tense Bracken of Lard".
As with "Gravy on a plate of food" its immediate temporal predecessor I am once again wordless in my admiration of this unique artist.
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