Moulettes

Cobalt Studios, Newcastle

14 October 2022

Every time I have seen the Moulettes, they have been different. Today's band doesn't look or sound anything like the band I was captivated by back in 2014.

But one thing that hasn't changed is their determination to play music without any regard for genre or style or rules of what you're "supposed" to do. Tonight's set is impossible to categorise, even more so than their earlier uncategorisable music.

There are six musicians tonight, though not all are present for all songs, and between them they play two cellos, two guitars, violin, viola, piano, percussion, nykleharpa, and all of them sing. All of the music is new (except for three of their old songs at the end, radically rearranged for these instruments).

And ... beyond that, I can't describe it. It's beyond categorisation.

All I can say is that I was captivated all over again. Probably the best conceived and performed suite of music I've heard all year (and it has been an outstanding year). Simply the best concert I've ever seen.

I came out clutching a flyer of future dates and trying to work out which one I could get to, to hear this astonishing music again.

Simply astonishing.