Mermaid Chunky’s music is a celebration of fun and frivolity. Combining loops of electronica, pipes, flutes and various percussion instruments with Edward Lear-like nonsense lyrics that seem to be largely improvised on the spot, their weirdness is a fine tonic in these difficult times and a joyful soundtrack for misfits everywhere.
Freya Tate and Moina Moin may already have two albums to their name but, with the exception of the magical “Chaperone”, their set in Birmingham seemed to be created anew in real time. Dressed up in their flamboyant dressing up box chic, Mermaid Chunky took to the Hare’s low stage in front of a screen of strange fishy projections and slowly but surely built layers of gentle sounds backed with a recorder-blown melody that warmed up a decent-size, mid-week audience nicely.
From there, they presented the room with a “traditional Italian melody singalong” with Moina Moin laying down bursts of stream of consciousness lyrics, such as “Maybe I’ll be wearing my trousers… baby, baby, baby, baby… flip-flop, flip-flop” before taking in a chorus from “Little April Shower” from Disney’s 1942 film Bambi – all over a strange motorik-folk mash up that got plenty of hips swinging in the audience. Then there was a short interlude “to do with knees” that saw Tate and Moin perform a short, synchronised dance behind their instruments before another burst of impromptu, pipes and loops and a claim that “It’s a bit ambient in here. Nothing’s really in focus”.
Mermaid Chunky then launched into the fine and funky “Chaperone”, which again got plenty of the crowd shaking their bits. “My heart is bursting and my bosom is expanding so much I can hardly see you out there” chanted Moina Moin as Freya Tate wound up the groove to new heights and the dancing responded likewise.
At this point, Tate donned the biggest of outsized hats and declared, “This is our last song. It’s twenty minutes long. Sometimes”, before building a blissed out, tropical house groove, while Moina Moin exclaimed “I wanna be with you but I’ve got no gills”. So, it must be for a mermaid with an eye on a fishy character who’s beyond her reach! Still, it didn’t stop those present lapping up what was on offer.
Mermaid Chunky’s music and eccentric show would be a perfect fit for a stage or a big tent in a field in the English countryside at the height of summer, and this week’s show in Birmingham was a ray of sunshine on a cold and damp evening during the dog days of winter. Their strange costumes and hypnotic tunes a fine tonic in these unpredictable times and their performance was a gentle reminder that no-one should feel obliged to get in step with the bland expectations of others. In short, they are just what we need right now in Weird Britain.
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