THE HU & TAU AND THE DRONES OF PRAISE

Take away the morin khuur, tovshuur, tumur hhuur (roughly translated from Mongolian as horsehead fiddle, lute and Jew’s harp) and throat singing and THE HU is a fairly pedestrian hard rock/metal band. The rock elements are indebted to the likes of Zep, Sabbath, Maiden, Metallica and even the Foo Fighters. But add in the traditional Mongolian elements - although the fiddles and lute looked like they had been reimagined by BC Rich at their most OTT - and that (amazing sounding) overtone singing and The HU become something else entirely. Whilst they’re not the first band to mix the sounds of the Steppes with rock - Tuva’s Yat-Kha did it the best part on two decades ago - they are almost certainly the most fun. And how come a band from Mongolia can pronounce “Norwich” but most American bands make an absolute hash of it? 

I thoroughly enjoyed the psych-drone-folk of support act Seán Mulrooney’s TAU & THE DRONES OF PRAISE. Those I was with didn’t. Music is a very personal thing and all that…. Imagine a cross between King Creosote’s work with Jon Hopkins, Lankum and Lau and you won’t be too far from what Tau deliver. Highlight of the set Is It Already Written adds soul testifying to the mix. Okay, they seemed a little under rehearsed and the rhythm section weren’t as together as the studio work that I had spent the day checking out. The end of the set was also a touch shambolic. But, for all that, I liked them a lot.