Bandcamp Reviews: Moundabout
Every Friday, I plan to buy one or two "new to me" releases on Bandcamp. ”New to me” is something I just now discovered or finally bought. Whether it be from 1972 of 2025. I will then listen to these releases for a couple of days and then post my unfiltered thoughts*. So, at the very least there should be a post a week (with some exceptions of course).
*there is no such thing as bad music – just music you dislike. So you won't ever see me saying something is bad etc – just why it didn't work for me.
this week I am changing things up and focusing on Bandcamp purchases that I made before I started this site. So that could be a day before or several years before lol. Kicking this off is the group, Moundabout.
I discovered this group via the fantastic underground Irish music newsletter, Anois, Os Ard (also mentioned elsewhere on this site). The group is composed of Paddy Shin (Gnod) and Phil Masterson (Los Langeros/Damp Howl/Bisect) and they self describe themselves as folk but that is way too generic of a description of the music they have presented to the world.
So far, Moundabout has three albums but this review will examine Moundabout as a whole and then provide some brief commentary on each album (along with a favorite track from each album).
If folk doesn't suffice as a description then what does? I do not believe there is a single term etc that will work. Moundabout is an Irsih country/(acid) folk band that has been seduced by the drone, occultism, psychedelia and the esoteric (with a dash of rock and the hypnotic feeling that only Krautrock can provide).
Their music drips with decay and organic material – it hearkens back to a different time when there was much to fear in the shadows and much to learn from the unseen world. In may ways, they have tapped into the same beyond that Coil lived in. Moundabout's music may not be completely Coil like, but they invoke the same feelings Coil did. In short, they provide a path to the esoteric (for the listeners and the artists, themselves).
Flowers Rot, Bring me Stones
This is their first album and the overall feel is of organic decay in a liminal space. If pressed, I would say this release lends itself more toward experimental folk. The song I have chosen, almost always settles me. It is a simple song lyrically speaking but the singing style evokes so many emotions. I would go as far to say that this song accurately represents how I feel when I am at the coast.
Essential.
An Cnoc Mór
Second release by the band and it finds them exploring psychedelia, rock and creating hypnotic states via rhythmic repetition. This is a standout track for me because it showcases drone, psychedelia, the esoteric and something akin to Krautrock (at least from an hypnotic standpoint)
Essential.
Goat Skull Table
The latest release by the band and for me, this is their most Coil like album. I want to make clear something – they are not copying or being derivative. When I say Coil like, I mean in feeling and presentation. There is something about this album that is dark, organic (there is that word again), dangerous and of the occult. I chose this track because even though the lyrics are simple (like The Sea above), the feelings invoked more than represent the state of the world today. In a lot of ways, it sums up my mental state (at least toward the world)
Essential.
Photo by Daniel De Los Santos, Round Rock, TX