MEDIAEVAL BAEBES

Strange and beautiful rhymes from classical stars – no nursery crymes here.

Prog has always had an affinity with nursery rhymes. Their influence can be felt in Floyd’s early psychedelia, while Marillion quoted Lavender Blue on Misplaced Childhood. On their ninth album, classicalcrossover sensations the Mediaeval Baebes reimagine the whole genre, from Humpty Dumpty through to This Old Man and London Bridge is Falling Down. What might have been a half-baked vanity project is rather a triumph. There are moments when A Pocketful Of Posies is genuinely disturbing, drawing on the strange meeting-points between childhood and horror. This is especially clear on the

haunting Wicker Man settings of tracks such Sing Ivy and Who Killed Cock Robin?. Musical director and Baebes founder Katherine Blake delivers a revelatory arrangement of Little Boy Blue, whose textures are both disconcerting and beautiful, as if The Madcap Laughs had gone on a blind date with the Incredible String Band’s The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter. The inclusion of long-time collaborators Charlie Cawood and Kavus Torabi add to an album that is both psychedelic and oddly comforting. Suspend any reticence and – to quote Carroll’s Jabberwocky – you may find yourself shouting, ‘O frabjous day!’