Moulettes are a shrieking bundle of contradictions. A pirate-folk band from Manchester… a cello-wielding, bassoon-swinging dance band… sweet little boys and sassy chicks. But above all they’re consummate musicians, cats of the night equally at home in a Soho members’ club, a Berlin free party or a dockside tavern…

They began their musical journey early in 2005 when siblings Ruth & Rob Skipper (later writer/singer for The Holloways) set up shop with school friend Hannah, string player and night hawk. They soon met drummer and local ragamuffin Ollie Austin (Moneytree) at local acoustic nights in Winchester. They bonded over a love of howling, a capella and scrumpy and spent all summer playing before the girls moved north, recruited as the two more charismatic thirds of electro-pop outfit Modernaire.

Somehow they managed to accidentaly build a rep for themselves in Manchester - based partly on tight harmonies and partly on tighter treatment of the local menfolk - while simultaneously (as ‘Den Of Iniquity’) promoting a residency at the famous 12 Bar Club in London’s Tin Pan Alley so depressingly cool Time Out readers managed to vote it ‘trendiest night out’ in 2007. Fortunately there was an upside as they resumed work with Ollie and also picked up Ted Dwayne (Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling Band) on upright bass.

Last summer the Moules recorded a flurry of live tracks, self-released as ‘Miscellany’ & ‘Songs from St. Margarets’ For a first-time recording by a bunch of people who play instruments that never need plugging in it’s masterful – a missive from a lost world where The Bad Seeds came from Cornwall, and hung around long enough to snap up PJ Harvey to front them. Their debut LP will be released on Sotones this summer; in the meantime we’re contenting ourselves with their split AA single 'Wilderness / Old Friends' with fellow folk-pop tinkerer Peter Lyons, out in all good digital stores worldwide on 11th May 2009.

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