The latest Red Bazar album made quite an impression with me, so I was very curious to check out Peter Jones’ main band Tiger Moth Tales. And this, while being a whole different animal, does not disappoint either.
This album was not really planned, but since the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t either, many musicians made good use of their time and recorded new ideas. Or as Peter says “there are different moods in every song, inspired by my own alternating feelings”. There are 6 tracks on this, making it a sort of extended EP. Title track Still Alive is one of hope, and it is based on Peter’s voice and his acoustic guitar. The Mighty Fallen is a more typical neo prog track. And because of its many moods, still makes for comfortable listening, despite the instrumental nature. Golden on the other hand is a more ballad type of track. With Jones singing over piano and strings.
This seems like a good bridge to jump over to the accompanying DVD where the band perform 8 tracks in a studio environment with a small crowd enjoying the show. Here I found out that Peter Jones not only sings and plays keyboards, he stunned me with singing, playing guitar leads with his left hand and keyboards with his right. If I add to this that he is blind… just wow! There are bonus video’s, one of the album title track and a piano and vocal version of the song Hygge.
One thing is sure, my first time hearing Tiger Moth Tales calls for checking out their back catalogue. Very impressed with the man’s talent as a musician and songwriter! If you have not checked him out, but like modern progrock, you need to hear this too.
