The latest album of this long existing band is all about
Mary Ann Cotton. The first track opens with a children’s rhyme about Mary Ann Cotton, sung by his daughter Naomi. The lyrics tell a macabre tale of how Britain’s
greatest female mass murderer came to her end. The tracks together form a story
about the life and death of Mary Ann as well. After opening with the 'What Shall I Sing' the story continues with 'The Burial Club'. This has an even
darker and more mysterious sound to it than the opening track. Especially the
use of extremely short cello notes adds to the peculiar feel. The sounds are
made in such a way that emotions are hidden beneath the tones. Experimentally
very well done, according to my own interpretation this track corresponds to
the exhumation of the victims of Mary Ann, which is followed by the 'Reinsch Test', which contains experimental saxophone play to convince you that you are in a
laboratory, and prove the guilt of Mary Ann. 'The Trial' opens with the rumoury
background and hushed whispers that can be heard when a suspect is brought to
trial and led to the stand before the judge has entered. A dialogue follows
between the judge (cello) and Mary Ann (piano). The subsequent song has two
subtitles of which the first speaks to the mind the most 'A Short Drop';
especially if you take into mind she was hung for her deeds. After about 5
minutes she has died and a plea for forgiveness and hiding from hell (a part
sung and played by Emily Autumn). The closing track 'Heaven is My Home' suggest
that she has died and has gotten God's forgiveness, and reached heaven. The
sound of distorted church singing creates a feeling of seeing saints. It
finishes with a dark twist, as the soul of Mary Ann reincarnates into the son
of Martin Bowes and is set free upon the world once more, as suggested by the
subtitle 'The Other Side of Jordan…'.
The inspiration for the album seems to have come from Martin
Bowes recent discovery that his great great great aunt was the daughter of the
policemen who arrested Mary Ann. She also worked for Mary Ann for some time as
a seamstress. A well made experimental album in which the atmosphere is really
transferred into music well. When reading the booklet and listening to the
music at the same time, the meaning of the mostly instrumental songs become very
clear. This is still one of the harder things to manage with instrumental
music.
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