Beats and yelling: Maud the Moth

The Distaff
Out 21^st February on The Larvarium

The return of this enigmatic neoclassical-cum-darkwave entity adds a welcome addition to the annuls of not-metal-for-metalheads. Anna von Hausswolff built a musical universe around the church organ alongside her eclectic vocal talents, Maud the Moth achieves something similar with her preferred tool, the piano. Whilst the previous effort ‘Orphne’ created worlds within worlds predominantly through ethereal vocalisations carried along by unfurling piano lines borrowing from neoclassical, jazz, blues, and late romanticism, here the universe grows as the instrumental framing is expanded, bringing everything from ambient percussion, strings, saxophone, and guitar to the fore.

The status of the piano and voice remains as the soul of the music. Gentle rhythmic piano lines compete for dominance against the fragility of the vocal work. Tonal ambiguity, tugging rubato pulses, and the full octave capabilities of the piano are set to work in contrasting the high end lyricism of the voice. Piano lines begin from a place of simple arpeggiated sequences, only to gradually unfurl as yet more chord variations are added to each cycle, bringing with them their own desire to take on the mantle of lead instrument. As the conflict emerges, with piano taking on busier staccato patterns the vocals are able to recede into extended notes, giving greater expression to certain lines and accenting an underlying melancholy to great effect.

Whilst these elements are firmly rooted in a neoclassical or early jazz lineage, additional flourishes of ambient drum work in the form of cold cymbal roles and the hum of guitar drone bring a modernist sheen to music that at times feels hauntingly anachronistic. Cello and violin work as effective diplomats in this push and pull, supporting the jagged piano lines with complementary legato lines, bridging the gap between the underlying doom laden hum and the fragile conflict between the piano and vocals playing atop these textural elements.

Each piece works through periods of uncanny sorrow. Due to the ambitious tonal language deployed across these tracks, even moments of stillness are infected with tension, pain, provoking a desire for release. The delicate elements are then pulled into phases of aggression, crescendos of noise that build harmonies and dissonance into the very DNA of dynamic tension, attacking the listener on two fronts and demanding their obeisance. Doom or post metal work as background architects, forcing ever more dramatic contours into the substance of the music as the gentle piano and vocal lines are forced to ride these waves of energy and volume whilst maintaining their integrity.

With this release Maud the Moth have retained their signature appeal resting on the interaction between a voice uniquely wired into its identity as a pianist, one studied in a variety of traditions. This latter element comes through all the more on ‘The Distaff’ as one can here elements of 19^th and 20^th century music collide against more contemporary impulses, leading to an oddly hauntological experience attacking the listener at the subliminal level. Equally, they have expanded their dynamic and timbral range, foregrounding other instruments, asking them to challenge and at times drown out the central threads of lyricism with ever more dramatic overtures of primal despair. As aggression and violence weave their way between the competing impulses of sorrow and rumination, an expansive and idiosyncratic work of darkwave fit for the 2020s emerges, naivety is shed, but the possibility of haunting, escapist fantasies remains, teasing the listener like an echo from the past.