Moulettes and their marvellous, cleverly-layered concoctions have been colouring up their musical tapestry since the early 2000s.
The word creativity was meant for this band of alternative players.
You could call it folk rock, but while that is acceptable, it's far from the whole musical picture.
Cellist, singer and Miss Moulette Hannah Miller puts it best: "You can listen to Moulettes and apparently hear Shostakovich, Miles Davis, Pentangle, Pink Floyd, Bjork and Skrillex,” she says.
“That is where we've all come from...everyone shares in over 80 years of recorded music history.”
The band have been working on their fourth album which is slated for a spring 2016 release, but are currently on a co-headlining tour with Nizlopi, which calls in at The Stables, Wavendon on Thursday (Nov 12).
Hannah and guitarist and percussionist Raevennan went On Track with Total MK...
The song that first awakened your musical senses
Hannah: My sister gave me a copy of Bjork debut when I was nine.
There is so much packed in to this record; house music, brass arrangements, Jazz influences, all tied together by Bjork’s extraordinary voice, force of character and song craft.
When I was much younger though I absolutely loved the Queen and the Soldier by Suzanne Vega - my sister used to sing it to me, and the story made a real impression on me.
Raevennan: There have been many that have stopped me in my tracks and awakened my senses, but I think the first was James Taylor's "Fire & Rain", heard on cassette in my Grandad's car whilst visiting family in North Wales.
Physical or digital - how do you take your music?
Raevennan: I love to leave a good gig with a record (vinyl if they have it) and have always preferred it to buying digital, however, I sometimes download songs or records, especially if I can't get hold of a CD and feel I need the record in my life urgently.
I've done that with a few albums; didn't have the patience to wait until I went to the shops, or wait for a delivery! Good music can do that to you.
Hannah: I’m building up a vinyl collection but I do listen to music online also. One of my main life plans is a record listening room with a good sofa in it.
Spending so much time trying to make audio sound as good as it can makes you want to listen to it at its best.
The first time you thought 'Music - this is the job for me’
Raevennan: I wasn't aware of what kind of path I would take until I chose my A levels.
I studied things that interested me and music was of course top of the list.
At that time I wanted to be a concert guitarist but it wasn't until I was approached by some lads at college looking for a singer and guitarist that I immersed myself into a world of songwriting.
Hannah: I can spend hours and hours writing and playing - I love it.
I've done it since I was quite young and thats where I am happiest - in the laboratory, making something exist where nothing was before…
Your best on stage memory…
Raevennan: Getting a standing ovation half way through our set supporting Three Friends (Gentle Giant) and then again at the end, in Quebec City, Canada last month.
The audience were really into the songs we played them from the new record, which was great.
Few things have brought me close to tears but that was definitely one of them.
Hannah: lots of good memories - hard to find a best one. We played Glastonbury this summer again which was a hoot, and touring Canada was a dream.
But what just popped in to my head was a festival we played - and a big beautiful moth was flapping all around me and on the last chord of the final song it landed on the tip of my bow… the crowd could all see it illuminated and casting shadows - it was a good moment.
And the worst gig you've ever done
Hannah: Ha. Quite a few years ago we played a festival where the desk was patched in all wrong, so our sound engineer was battling to work out how things were set up, one member had a chronic earache, it was a disaster.
We have continuously been working on our production to reduce any chance of sound problems - we travel with our own mixing desk, microphones, and with personal monitor mixers so as not to be thwarted by sound issues.
The Cello is difficult to amplify because of how wide the frequency range is, and to this end I have a beautiful 5 string cello built by my dad (Alan Miller) and a lovely multi band compressor pedal, amongst other things.
The quest for beautiful amplified cello sound is ongoing.
Raevennan: I can't remember a bad gig off the top of my head, though I've played a few. Moulettes have had a really good year on the road and the audiences have been great fun.
What made you take up the cello/ guitar in particular
Hannah: I started when I was four - and everyone played something in my family - it was a musical home…My mum and sister played the cello also.
I had a false start with a violin, which I decided was too squeaky - so I wanted something bigger.
I fell in love with the Jacqueline Du Pre recording of Elgar’s cello concerto, full on dramatic passion, and I loved my first teacher who is a very creative inspiring person, and a composer.
My dad is a luthier and a folk musician but he also made a point of giving me a collection of albums of all the great Jazz singers - Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Peggy Lee…
Raevennan: I first learned piano when I was about eight or nine years old; had a crazily brilliant tutor who was (and still is I think) a classical concert pianist but but my heart wasn't in it.
At the time my grandad used to have a steel string guitar in his loft which he would bring out every time I visited. He'd play old country tunes and I'd return home to London begging my mum to let me get a guitar.
I've rarely been seen without my guitar since.
Which one song by another artist do you wish you had written
Raevennan: "Never Too Much" by Luther Vandross. It's currently the van-tune of the tour so far, but it's been an all-time favourite of mine since I was little.
Hannah: I think song craft is a mystical business. There are those songs which exist in this state of timeless perfection, like ‘The Mystery of Man’ as sung by Sarah Vaughn, and ‘This Woman’s Work’ by Kate Bush which have such a human and universal beauty.
Maybe Bohemian Rhapsody because it is so audaciously brilliant.
And one - by yourself - which holds special significance
Hannah: I always like the newest songs the best, and I’m really happy with the new record (out in April 2016). There are some new moods never before heard, and we've spent more time than ever before getting stuck in, refining the arrangements.
From Constellations, my favourite is ‘Between 2 Mirrors’, we were able to get a small Orchestra of Brighton’s finest players on that one.
Raevennan: I'm a very new addition to Moulettes and really love all the songs on the new record we've been making.
Possibly, my favourite song of mine to play is 'To The Sea', from my album 'East by North West'.
If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
Hannah: Living - I think probably Björk - the scale of the art she has been able to make is amazing, her collaborators are all extraordinary.
I'd love to step back in time to be there on the cusp of emerging music scenes unfolding - jazz, early rock n roll, soul & r&b — when the focus was firmly on the music itself, and the quality of the players was exceptional.
Raevennan: I'd quite like to step into Ralph Vaughn Williams' shoes for a day or two, collecting folk songs and writing music without the aid (or interference/distractions) of our modern technologies.
Are there any current musical influences that you might look to
Raevennan: I enjoy listening to Eclectic24 on KCRW, an internet radio station broadcast from the basement of a Santa Monica college. It's constantly introducing me to great artists that don't get radio play here in the UK. A new influence is St Vincent; I saw her at Green Man this year after we played and was really impressed with her show and she plays guitar with great dexterity.
Hannah: TuneYards, she is an amazing vocalist, pushing boundaries with production and performance; Janelle Monae is a star - brilliant singer and dancer, and beautiful conceptual records and videos.
Besides these big acts there are our contemporaries that we have grown up playing with; Bunty in Brighton, Rioghnach Connolly, Honeyfeet and Liz Green in Manchester - superb artists.
And any genre of music that you simply can't stand?
Hannah: I’m not anti any particular genre really - I think good things can come out of any category or style.
I get in a rage with music that has been cynically produced and marketed.
I think X factor and its ilk have done great harm to the way musicians operate and are perceived.
Raevennan: My likes and dislikes aren't really genre specific... it comes down to the song, or the artist, or the writing.
Finally, plug The Stables show - what can we expect?
Raevennan: It's our last tour of the year and we're going out with a bang! Expect tunes from the new record we've been recording this summer, light sabres and lots of intriguing facts about the weird and wonderful creatures of the world.
To book tickets for The Stables date visit www.stables.org or call 01908 280800.
