Thee Moths

With one solitary ‘constant’ member in the band, this album sounds very much like a solo project. Said singer/songwriter/musician/producer, Alex Botten, has, therefore, the right to make what can only be described as an ‘uncompromising’ collection of tunes.
I say ‘tunes’, even that is an area that’s open for interpretation. The album opens with ‘My First Gig (Minus the Music)’ which appears to be, well, exactly that, a collection of banter and song intros from a noisy show somewhere (we assume) in the English midlands.
However, there’s much to recommend this album beyond all that. Of the 20 tracks here the majority are certainly sonic experiments, but when these adventures bear fruit, the results are very worthwhile. ‘Ver Version’ is a headnodding bit of indie drum’n’bass (possibly) while ‘Get Your Folk On’ is a looped bit of glitchcore banjo that (despite that description) somehow works; and ‘Many Hands’ sees a xylophone snake its way around a field of electrical noise.
Conversely, ‘Boiled Rice’ may be the sound of exactly that, one that competes with John Cage in the ‘minimalist’ stakes. And there’s ‘None Whatsoever’ – the longest track here, 3 minutes plus of eight-bit squaks and bleeps.
The collection is bookended by another 20 or so seconds of live chat in ‘My First Gig (Minus The Context)’ which again isn’t really a track you’d pay your 79 pence for.
However, as the album’s a download you can take the rough with the smooth, and listen to the whole thing. Whether you enjoy every second of it is another matter, but as I say, it’s unlikely that Mr Botten will be too bothered. A fair few people will I’m sure find much to enjoy here and that will be a bonus for its creator.

(Editor’s note: the album is, it seems, a limited edition of 10 (!) x 3″ CDRs now sold out… reviewed from the original promo download link. Repressing queries via theemoths.co.uk, I suppose ).