A strange record,
this. Based on Scared of Ferret's sinister-looking cover, I
was expecting black metal or even noise. What I got, instead, was a
free and whimsical experimental rock record, spanning through
influences as disparate as jazz, psych, videogame music, and, yes,
noise. It's a rambling, disjointed trip, certainly, but also an
inviting and intrepidly original one.
The essential
element on Scared of Ferret is, appropriately, mood. The tribal, Diamanda Galas-inspired sinister
majesty of "Rintin Fire" articulates Moodring's M.O. succinctly -
although the band's formula changes from track to track (here it is
haunting female vocals, a hypnotic rhythm, and amorphous gasps of
feedback), the consistent approach is to craft entrancing
musical soundscapes whose form is secondary to the overall
atmosphere evoked. Burned-out psych groove "Colin Wilson," which
elicits memories of Ash Ra Tempel in its acid-drenched
mesmerism, is among the record's best efforts at conjuring up pure,
sweltering feeling. Equally sublime "Into the Doom" takes an
altogether different approach, matching an almost 8-bit synth bit
with clarinet swooning and Mae Starr's unmistakeable
crooning. It's an inspired, even awesome track - one of several on
Scared of Ferret, which, disjointed as it may be, teems with
indescribable wonder.
