Moulettes take traditional folk and spike it with psychedelic rock, alternative pop, Gypsy dance and anything else they fancy at the time. Tim Hughes asked the band's Hannah Miler what it is all about

A freewheeling force of nature, Moulettes are many things – but predictable isn’t one of them.

Beautiful melodies and spine-tingling harmonies are set off by edgy instrumentation, narrative lyrics and dynamic stage shows. It’s folk- rock, but so much more. It’s experimental, raucous and unsettling – flitting between light and dark; traditional roots and avant-garde. Along the way there are flashes of prog rock, Balkan dance, vaudeville and psychedelia.

Confused, I asked the band’s Hannah Miller what they are all about. “Moulettes are what you want them to be,” says the songwriter singer, cellist, guitarist and synth player. “Stories, embryos, songs, snacks, muscles, particles, molluscs and bad French haircuts...”

The latter refers to the modern mullet - mercifully shunned by the group, made up of Hannah’s bandmates Ruth Skipper (bassoon, vocals and autoharp), Jim Mortimore (bass, double bass, moog and guitar), Ollie Austin (drums, guitar and synth) and recent signing Raevennan Husbandes (guitar and percussion). All the band sing – the women in a glorious three-part harmony.

“I like being anachronistic,” she adds. “There is so much to learn from the past, and so much to make from the future.”

And why the name? “Me and Ruth had a moment of psychic connection and the brain fart that ensued was the name Moulettes,” she says.

It also has a suggestive double meaning in street French. Were they aware of this when they chose the name? “Yes, and we are sexually deviant Pagans, according to our favourite review ever.

“Actually, the French slang meaning was a bonus; we were unaware of this initially.”

The band began while the band were still teenagers, and released their debut album in 2010. They have now release their fourth, called, appropriately enough, Preternatural.

“We began Moulettes years back,” says Hannah. “Ruth, Ollie and I, and then later Jim, and it has evolved over the years with different players coming in and out at different times.

“Raevennan has joined us for this album and she is a superb singer and electric guitarist, so we get to do lots of lovely three part harmony singing.”

While most easily categorized as folk, Hannah admits to feeling uncomfortable with the F word.

“Folk is a broad term and subjective too,” she says. “The potential to listen to music of all sorts from all places is so easy now. Folk music itself has many manifestations and purposes.

“I would not call Preternatural a folk album myself, but you could probably draw parallels if you wanted to. There are elements of storytelling and melodic patterns in the songwriting, for example.”

She goes on: “Our instrumentation is unusual to begin with. We've got amplified acoustic instruments: bassoon and autoharp through pedals, a five-string electric cello, electric guitar, samplers, a Moog and drum kit, among other things.

“Production-wise we really wanted to challenge ourselves and get into new territory.

“We set out to blend acoustic, electric and synthesised noise. We also made our own sample library, working with producer and friend Mike Dennis, who collected and manipulated sounds from the environment around him.

“We like experimenting with sounds, but there is song craft in the writing. The idea was to make a concept album about the surreal beauty of the natural world and the creatures in it – and our responsibilities as humans; our role as caretaker or threat. But we wanted to make these songs accessible at the same time, so the ideas would get heard.”

It is music that comes with obvious respect and understanding of traditional folk and classic rock and betrays their musical influences – or possibly their parents’ records collections.

“We've all dug deep in to music of all sorts - from Led Zeppelin, Billie Holiday, Frank Zappa, Bobby Gentry, Alice Coltrane and Leonard Cohen to Tom Waits, Björk and newer contemporaries like Field Music, Janelle Monae and Deradoorian,” says Hannah.

“We love music that promotes its own unique kind of eclecticism. That's what we try to achieve when we do our own experimenting.”

Certainly the view from the crowd is of much more than a gig. It is a fulkl-on sensory assault.

“I'm excited about this tour,” says Hannah. ”There are all new songs, a light show and costumes. It's much more of a full production than ever before. We're really happy to be back on the road and playing again. We've been busy rehearsing so it will be great to test these new songs out on people.

“In our previous tour all the new songs were very well received so I have high hopes.”

And, I suggest, dancing appears to be compulsory. “We like dancing! It's certainly conceivable but nothing is compulsory,” she answers.

“Or maybe we should make dancing compulsory... sort of like progressive circuit training. Ruth can bellow at you all with her new loudspeaker.”

So what, I wonder, do the more traditionally-minded, and famously unforgiving, folkies think of their craft?

“I can't speak for all of them, but we've certainly had some very kind words from some great players,” she says. “The Unthanks, Bellowhead, Lau and the amazing violinist Ross Holmes have all been inspiring and supportive over the years. How ‘trad’ they all are I'm not sure, though; it's a blurry line.

“I still love playing sessions; learning tunes on the fly is great brain training. We've played some pretty folky festivals- Cropredy was great fun- and it usually goes down well. And Moulettes gigs tend to contain quite a broad collection of people of different ages and different tastes.”

While a Moulettes show is unlike any other gig, fans of old will also be surprised at what they see and hear. So how do they manage to keep things fresh?

“We try to wash our socks whenever possible,” she jokes. “Going to a new place every day on wheels keeps you fresh! We love to travel, and you meet some brilliant people on the move all the time.

“On this tour, everything is fresh: fresh songs and even fresh clothes. Speak to us at the end of the tour, though, and you might hear a different story.”

Of course they are no strangers to life on the road. Their festival-friendly sound has taken them everywhere from the aforementioned Cropredy to Glastonbury, Bestival – and beyond – such as Canada, home of the dodgy ‘moulette’ mullet – as well as more exotic species.

“When we were driving through Quebec last September, Ollie said, ‘I would be so happy if I could just see one moose’, and the very next second Ruth spotted one,” she recalls. “It was the only moose we saw in three days driving through the national park, so it felt like a cosmic moose. We are super excited to return to Canada for festival season this summer, and are hoping to spot another moose.”

Tomorrow they bring their bombastic show to The Cellar. So what can we expect, I ask? Do the band have a mission statement?

“Our aim is to make relevant, complex and original music, to travel the world meeting new people and players, to promote the idea of peaceful communication through musical means,” she says.

“And to sample every international cheese variety!”

* Moulettes play The Cellar, Oxford, on Friday, April 22. Tickets from wegottickets.com