New Musical Express
"Twenty-four-track studios? String sections? Producers? Thee Moths prove you don’t actually need any of them. You just need imagination.
"Trading in experimental guitar-pop so lo-fi they seemingly couldn’t afford a four-track with Dolby noise reduction on it, Scottish-Canadian duo Alex Botten and Dominique Ferraton have produced an album rich in detail and character.
"There’s plenty of people writing shy, folky indie tunes, but few create the intoxicating, womb-like atmosphere Thee Moths do, swaddling their songs in radio interference, backwards tapes, distorted drum machines, breathless angelic vocals, reedy violins and cheap muffled guitars. Think Belle and Sebastian, The Kingsbury Manx and Minotaur Shock, and a triumph of ingenuity over budget. 7/10" [Tony Naylor]
www.nme.com
|
| |
Montreal Mirror
"From the trans-Atlantic indie lab (Mtl, Dundee), two modular epics broken up by saccharine melody, tough digi-beats, smart rock and poetic droning. 7.5/10" [LC]
www.montrealmirror.com
|
| |
Splendid E-Zine
"Alex lives on one side of the Atlantic Ocean. Dominique lives on the other. Together, they're Thee Moths...except, of course, that they're not together. They'd like to be together, but for some undisclosed reason they're not, so they do what most couples separated by thousands of miles and a handful of time zones do: they write long, eccentric, wonderful songs together by swapping tapes back and forth across the Atlantic. (I imagine that they also engage in the occasional bout of phone sex, which is what most of you thought I was getting at in the previous sentence, but the press release makes no mention of it.)
"The Small Glass Ghost EP consists of a pair of long songs, each divided into several segments or movements. These segments range from floaty ambient textures to trans-continental vocal harmonies, random beatbox experiments to rambling psych-rock doodles. The six-part "A Small Glass Ghost" crams a short acoustic pop tune, a low-rent (but harmonically gorgeous) excursion into Flaming Lips-style drill 'n' bass, and an extended, ramshackle E6-style jam characterized by off-key vocals, off-key strings and an extended spiraling end bit worthy of New Order. "The Cooling of Lightbulbs", a whopping seven-part epic, encompasses a cascading drum breakdown, a driving, fuzzed-out indie-pop barn-burner with a chorus torn from the Grunge Playbook, a pixilated faux-Bowie ballad, more drum-heavy indie-pop and a spectacular harmonium-charged finale that fades away into a recorded rain storm. "Lightbulbs" is ten seconds longer than "Ghost", but both tracks are predictably epic in scope; the EP comes in at an impressive 29 minutes, almost all of which can sustain repeated listens.
"If you're a Microphones fan, or simply like plenty of grab-bag-style unpredictability in your music, A Small Glass Ghost should delight you. If you prefer a stronger, more assertive authorial presence, look elsewhere. Thee Moths' music is more of a relationship byproduct than a deliberate act, so we have to take what we're offered -- we're all basically voyeurs in this process."
"You'll probably want to recommend A Small Glass Ghost to friends, but think twice before you burn or rip a copy -- Alex and Dominique undoubtedly have postage and long distance bills to pay, after all." [George Zahora]
www.splendidezine.com
|
| |
Bliss Aqua Marine
"This album consists of two long tracks, 'A Small Glass Ghost parts 1-6' and 'The Cooling of Lightbulbs parts 1-7'. Titles like this suggest arty experimentalism, and there is indeed some of that here. The first track begins with reverb-heavy, wordless vocals having an almost choral effect, and also coming across like a vocal version of the atmospheric guitar noise found in dreampop and spacerock. The second track begins with around half a minute of beaty noise, and later into this track there's more wordless atmospheric vocals, backed with the sound of speaking from a radio or TV programme. At the end you get an experimental sound collage. But Thee Moths aren't all about atmospherics and experimentation. They also do lofi/shambly/ramshackle pop, hushed melancholic bedroom pop, indiepop with chaotic DIY techno beats in a similar vein to Steward, psych-folk, and noisepop. A really good homemade album with plenty of variety." [Kim Harten]
www.blissaquamarine.net
|
| |
Indie Disco
"This is not one you encounter every day. Truly not. Jesus and Mary Chain toms thump while celestial choirs howl. BANGIN' drums BANG while something more cerebral is thrashed out. There's a Fall-like tinge, as side one's "Small Glass Ghost" clashes with the "Cooling of Lightbulbs" on side two. This is Sonic Boom's "Spectrum" meets A ZX Spectrum fed thru a distortion pedal. Fuck it. If you're a child of the early 80s, you'll remember a time when your computa game playing cut over Songs of Praise. It was "Since Yesterday", Philip Glass or listening to Sundays charts with gritted teeeth. (At least in my house.)And you loved the weekend and you HATED the fact it all ended tomorrow. And those years later when it meant fuck all, and it meant EVERYTHING. The fact this record's apparently on vinyl compounds it! It's a thing of rare (and fragile) beauty. And FUCK THIS RECORD IS TEMPERATURE DEPENDENT! Turn the heater on... And LUV!!!" [Alan Burns]
www.indiedisco.com
|
| |
Exclaim!
"Up until recently Thee Moths were a two-piece whose members (Alex Botton and Dominque Ferraton, who left after the recording of this, their second album) geographically spanned over three thousand miles (Quebec and Scotland respectively), creating their music primarily through Postal Service-style mail correspondence. Certainly it adds to the disjoined feel of these two constructions, both compiled into large suites that are arbitrary given “parts.” One could draw a direct parallel to the lo-fi indie rock of the Microphones, though an indirect line of reference could also be also made to the pastiche style of Atlanta’s cLOUDDEAD, as both of the album’s tracks break off into seemingly unrelated segments, complete with distorted drum loops and pastoral ambience. The opening section of “The Cooling of Light Bulbs” even borrows liberally from R.E.M.’s “Find the River” before gentle harmonising fades into a section that uses a radio dial as an instrument, its prominence in the mix covering the distorted pop smothered below it. At times undeniably strange, veering too far into lo-fi experimentation for the sake of itself, Thee Moths are also able to sporadically make their music sound perfectly calculated in the same way the Microphones have been able to make up for their monstrous excess with moments of brilliance. A Small Glass Ghost is a complete mess for sure, but it’s very unlikely music so originally crafted could work any other way." [Scott Reid]
www.exclaim.ca
|
| |
Hour
"The album is just two tracks, A Small Glass Ghost and The Cooling Lightbulbs. But each is built up of multiple parts, multiple songs, found sounds, droning ambience and tidy little arrangements. These parts work by themselves but hold onto some thread of the larger track structure. It's a funny experiment, played with fun in mind. That Thee Moths are a couple separated by 3,000 miles (Montreal to Dundee, Scotland) who recorded this gem via transatlantic tapes and flying visits, with just the most rudimentary equipment, makes it all the more impressive. A definite front-runner for art album of the year, but also a charming piece of lo-fi neo-folk ear candy. 4.5/5" [Dylan Young]
www.hour.ca
|
| |
Baby Tiger Zine
"This is the sort of music I like, but very rarely get to hear because the live music scene is pretty much dominated by feeble post grunge guitar bands. Radios burble, floaty pre-raphaelite lasses sigh, guitars are connected to toasters and simply everyone is taking snuff.
"That said, Thee Moths sometimes allow their trademark haphazardness to detract from a disciplined performance. What I'm trying to say is, the singing lurches from the ethereal and moving to the downright ropey.
"There's some nice wavery string playing at about 12"30 on the 6-part track 'A Small Glass Ghost', and the breathy reverberation of the record's opening vocal harmonies prove that Thee Moths can produce the goods when they want to. Somewhere around 3"16 in 'The Cooling of Lightbulbs' sees more good bits of what is in effect lo-fi barbershop, but soon the vocal line fades athsmatically into a slough of fuzzed out electric bass, which makes the lyrics frustratingly hard pin down.
"Perhaps Thee Moths are poetic geniuses; perhaps they've just reworked some Burt Bacharach numbers and are laughing at us down their sleeves. It's hard to say, but you'll probably have a fine time working it out. Recommended." [Miles Carter]
www.baby-tiger.net
|
| |
Fudge Zine
"This album is brilliant. I love it. Aberdeen-based readers will be familiar with Ian 'Beaker People' Simpson's style of putting computer generated beats and loops over folksy acoustic guitar....well, this is like that, but taken to the extreme. Two tracks made up of various 'parts' stitched together in an organic manner. One of them lives in Canada, one lives in Dundee, and this is the music they produce: very artistic, well thoughtout, well produced, well sung, well played. I'm impressed. It's challenging in a nice way. Check out the well designed webpage for more information, artwork and recordings. You might thank me. (5/5)" [Brian]
|
| |
Manchester Music
"Another release from the excellent and eclectic local label, STOLENWINE, is from Canadian / Caledonian duo, Thee Moths. Comprising of two CD tracks, there are actually 13 pieces split over two movements ("A Small Glass Ghost" and "The Cooling Of Lightbulbs"). It’s a great idea and actually listening to the whole set is worthwhile and quite rewarding. The music is a curious mix of lo-fi guitars and clever mixing and sampling. The melodies are rich and mingle West Coast harmonies with decaying industrial, urban skittering Rhythms. There’s even a swinging acoustic number that has a rumbling bass line and weirdly restrained vocals, but its sound is extremely light, but the mood intensely dark.
"The Cooling Of Lightbulbs" has some multi-layered vocal arrangements to start things off, before there’s a twisting summer swing of acoustics and trashy drums. There’s also a great piece which has single bass notes accompanied by mad machine gun samples and crashing cymbals - the melody and overall mix are superbly balanced, invoking a messy but brilliantly infectious song.
An excellent, off-kilter concoction of the strange, awkward and beautiful summing up the very best of Brain Wilson vocal moves and scratching underground, urban soaked grating frequencies." [JA]
www.manchestermusic.co.uk
|
| |
Incendiary Magazine
"When it comes to guitar music, originality isn’t frequently a keyword used in modern times. It isn’t going to be used today either - however, that is no excuse for lack of creativity. Thankfully, despite my poor set-up of negativity, Thee Moths are not found guilty, as their new album A Small Glass Ghost contains a collection of sincere, personal expressions, glued carefully together using any tools available/which they could imagine.
"My first listen to this album actually involved lying in a German field on a summer evening with my headphones jarring outwards, making me look pretty stupid. However, the trees were swaying above me in the breeze and the sun was lowering in the sky, whilst the pigeons were cooing loudly over the music, and the addition of nature seemed to fit the mood perfectly. Then a present/bomb smacked me heavily on the shoulder. Lesson learned: I shouldn’t attempt to re-orchestrate someone else’s songs with pigeons, and that even though I was having a nice time, Thee Moths isn’t for everyone.
"The physical recordings of A Small Glass Ghost are presented as 2 tracks - "A Small Glass Ghost Pts. 1-6" and "The Cooling of Light Bulbs Pts. 1-7". Fair enough. The original version of this release is only available on 12" vinyl anyway, but the translation to CD means the voyage of vinyl is recreated as fully as possible without the intervention of a pesky "random" or "skip" button.
"As well as that defiance against convention, the band is also going against the tradition of others who start as one or two friends playing music, and gradually fill out to four or five members to match preconceptions. Instead, this line-up has been reduced to a two-piece step-by-step, though they seem perfectly content with this, and their satisfaction can be heard in the songs. This means Alex Botten shares the majority of lead vocals throughout, whilst Canadian Dominique wraps female harmonies around and throughout the tracks. Both share the tasks of composing and instrumentation, creating results that are basic yet effective, and effective is the part to be proud of.
"See, "A Small Glass Ghost" is as lo-fi as it comes. The drums are loose, there are vocal flaws, and the style jumps part by part. It just doesn’t seem to matter though because when it’s all combined you have almost thirty minutes of enjoyable music. Without the imperfections and quirks, the album would have been a lot less interesting and probably more forgettable. I’m not saying that every band could get away with 9dB of tape hiss on a song, but sometimes such a delivery helps to get the point across.
"There’s an element of bravery too. On "The Cooling of Light Bulbs Pt. 6", you have Alex singing over a fuzzy rock song which has the potential to be the catchiest moment of the album, yet they choose to bury it under dead air and passing snatches of radio broadcasts. Sparklehorse used a similar trick on "Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man", but let the song out on parole early before it was completely reformed, whereas Thee Moths prove to be much stricter with their punishment. If you can handle such treatment as the listener then you are in for a fun listen. If not, you’ll probably hate it with a passion.
"At times, the music is reminiscent of Lou Barlow when he’s messing around on his acoustic guitar and not trying to write "hits" or seek the sugary sympathy that makes the girls swoon. In other areas there are too many happy "oohs and aahs" to be Lou, but it’s all good. Of everything attempted, there is nothing offered that can’t be appreciated for its simple honesty, so if you are seeking something with a little creativity and away from the norm, "A Small Glass Ghost" is certainly worth a go." [Steven MC]
www.incendiarymag.com
|
| |
Rough Trade
"A great second release from Stolenwine from scottish/canadian duo Thee Moths. It is "folk at pop speed, stumbling and falling over itself, on the edge of falling apart, like something from Neutral Milk Hotel only just boy/girl and guitar or like a fifties musical". Both sides are one song with 6 or 7 interconnecting tracks. 12" LP only and mighty fine."
www.roughtrade.com
|
| |
Piccadilly Records
"The second release on Stolenwine (located "just outside Manchester") is this album from Caledonian-Canadian duo Thee Moths. Side one's "A Small Glass Ghost" is actually six interconnecting tracks, likewise the B-side "The Cooling Of Lightbulbs" comprises of seven conjoined songs. Sometimes lo-fi beatbox and acoustic experimentation, mostly pure bittersweet sugar-coated Belle & Sebastian pop, the sound of Thee Moths is a fairytale adventure for bored and cynical ears. Heralded by great reviews in Careless Talk... and other underground publications, this is well worth your time and effort."
www.piccadillyrecords.com
|
| |
The Vanity Project
"Absolutely beautiful follow up to the eclectic "The Need", Thee Moths have produced my album of the year so far! Split in to two sections, "A Small Glass Ghost Parts 1-6" and "The Cooling Of Light Bulbs Parts 1-7", this album sees Thee Moths drifting through delicate acoustic lo fi tunes interspersed with collages of sound such as rain and the tuning in and out of the radio. At times the tunes seem barely there, as if they've been washed away while others are in your face with dirty, scuzzy guitars. Alex and Dominique have taken their vocals up a notch and we get some delicious harmonies between the two and passages of Alex's subdued lullaby voice that are rounded off by the sparkling, fragile vocals of Dominique. There's warmth exuded by Thee Moths that can only come from their recording techniques, shut your eyes and it's like they are in the room with you, singing to you alone. You can sense every breath being drawn in, every nervous lick of the lips, it really is quite remarkable and listening to this has made me realise just how sterile a lot of studio-recorded stuff really sounds. A truly stunning and beautiful creation. Available on vinyl that will just add to the fantastic listening pleasure."
www.vanityproject.co.uk
|
| |
Careless Talk Costs Lives
"Pts 1-6 yes, but actually one long track. Starts. Ahh. Ahhhh. Ahhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhh. It's a load of old ahhs. Where is this going? I'm wondering the same thing myself. Stops. Then. Blam. Urgency. A folk song at pop speed, stumbling and falling over itself, on the edge of falling apart, like something from Neutral Milk Hotel only just boy/girl and guitar. Stops. Silence. Buzz. Stops. Tick tick tick. A song from a from a Fifties film musical where the high-pitched hero starts to doubt himself, but his lady joins in at the end and all is well again. Oddly, there was only a beatbox and a large bass for accompaniment. No time to wonder why. Stops. Now acoustic guitar, double-tracked to haunting effect. The bloke sings faster then the girl. This is lovely. Now there are violins as well. Mmmmm. I hope it never stops. Stops." [Jimmy Possession]
www.carelesstalkcostslives.com
|
| |
Is This Music?
"Where "The Need" was some incredible bedroom experimentation which via Heath Robinson trickery blended the catchy fuzzpop of previous act Magnetic North Pole with some almost C86 vocal and song stylings, this is, well, something else. Really something else. "ASGG" - again recorded as a duo separated by the Atlantic - is an epic, a modern Ring Cycle or Tales From Topographic Oceans; a Zaireeka or Kid A for the 21st Century. Released as nicely retro 12" vinyl, side 1 is a six-part can’t-see-the-join epic, where elaborate mouth music bookends fuzzy pop and what sounds like a fight breaking out in a kitchen utensil factory provides the basis for eerily soulful harmonies. If that’s part 4 then it must be part 6 where a gloriously upbeat piece of boy/girl pop which - considering the singer is "cleaning out the blackness in the depths of my soul" - marries a feelgood bounciness with a tune David Gedge would be proud of. Flip the album over and it’s again one track, "The Cooling of Lightbulbs" which is perhaps closer to "The Need" in feel - 6 more interwoven pieces but more defined, meaning simpler identification of what’s on display - some dark distorted guitar pop, what we earlier called, more elaborate harmonies, and a closing piece which seems to set far-away vocals to Ivor Cutler’s harmonium. Despite that not a difficult listen by any means, and one which you should invest time - and a record deck - in."
www.isthismusic.com
|
|
