a r t i s t : The Mummers
t i t l e : Tale to Tell
d a t e : 2009
l a b e l : Big Bass Drum
c a t : BBDRUM2
s o u r c e : CDDA
g e n r e : Post Cabaret / Avantgarde Pop / Fairytale Ballad
u r l : http://tinyurl.com/dx2o68
r l s. d a t e : Apr/2009
t r a c k s : 10
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 71,4 MB
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Few debuting bands pull off the feat of inhabiting their own
unique musical idiom so comprehensively and convincingly as
The Mummers. Within the album's opening few minutes this
orchestral pop ensemble swerve between Last Night Of The Proms
bluster and more whimsical fairground clatter, launching with
'March Of The Dawn's jaunty militaristic pomp before 'Wake Me
Up' follows on, uncannily suggestive of Bjork singing along to
the Steptoe & Son theme (a mash-up this writer, for one, has
long been craving). Next comes 'Wonderland', which begins in a
manner evocative of a strangely festive, magic-realist
soundtrack to a night at the circus - think Angela Carter
penning a treatment for next Christmas' Marks & Spencer
Christmas advert, if you will - before straightening itself
out into a more elegantly cinematic ballad format, the like of
which Goldfrapp might summon up on a particularly good day.
Some of the more eagle-eared among you may recognise Mummers
singer and multi-instrumentalist Raissa Khan-Panni from a
short-lived solo career a while back. She's had a good few
years of creative incubation since then, and it seems that her
considerable vocal and writing talents have finally found a
suitable platform with this band and its lofty sonic
ambitions. Tale To Tell draws out its own little universe,
merrily tapping into the very English eccentricities of early
music hall and Edward Lear's fairytale nonsense - quite
literally on the Owl And The Pussycat-referencing title track.
It's hard to know where The Mummers are likely go next after
such a singularly grandstanding, archly portentous debut, but
it'd be worth sticking around to find out.
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01-March of the Dawn [03:35]
02-Wake Me Up [04:23]
03-Wonderland [05:05]
04-Lorca and the Orange Tree [05:12]
05-This is Heaven [04:16]
06-Tale to Tell [04:01]
07-Place For Us [03:06]
08-See Alice [04:37]
09-Teardropsfall [05:22]
10-Nightbus [03:10]
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42:47 min