A VISIT TO ZOETERMEER

The first DVD release of TIGER MOTH TALES is a 70-minute gig filmed at Cultuurpodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands in January 2019. The gig appears also on the supplementary cd while the dvd disc contains five promo videos.

In case you're not yet familiar with this British band, it is basically Peter Jones, the gifted multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter (nowadays playing keyboards in Camel) and his co-musicians, three of them on this gig. Since 2014 TMT has released four studio albums that should appeal in particular to fans of Steve Hackett and Genesis in his era. The music has warm charm and often it's inspired by fairy tales. Or by wintertime and "yuletide" especially, as is the case with the third album The Depths of Winter (2017). My first acquaintance with TMT were, some years ago, two videos seen from YouTube: Pete Jones, a blind guy, doing a fantastic cover of the Genesis classic 'The Musical Box', and the lovely video of 'A Visit to Chigwick' that (I presume) uses some old children's animation to picture the peaceful life in a small happy village. The latter song is naturally present in this gig as one guesses from the title of the release.

The promo videos here aren't as unique visually, but they are a nice addition to the shortish live show. Three of the songs appear also on the gig, in a longer form. Each of the videos concentrates showing Pete singing and playing, often multiplied to play various instruments -- on 'Hundred Acre Wood' he's having an ironic dialogue with his double. 'Hygge' features footage of snowy winter landscapes and aurora borealis.

The gig sees Pete quite talkative in between the songs. That's one part of his deeply sympathetic nature as a musician. His songs are full of the similar melodic, pastoral and emotional charm, and delightful solos mostly for his synths, as Wind & Wuthering era Genesis. And there's also humour. For example 'Toad of Toad Hall' depicting the Wind in the Willows character really makes the listener imagine the frog's carefree joy ride ending in a crash.

Not quite worth full rating as the show could have been both longer and visually more spectacular, but this release will bring happy smiles to anyone already enjoying TMT's symphonic prog music, and it will function perfectly also as the first encounter with this lovely artist!