The pianist, singer, and songwriter Amaya López-Carromero has travelled far. She left her Spanish homeland more than a decade ago and is now domiciled in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. Her alter-ego and artistic identity Maud the moth is similarly going places. Her fourth and most recent album, The Distaff – a powerful, dynamic work that was released earlier this year – is rightly garnering huge critical acclaim. And with her creative star in the ascendancy tonight she begins half a dozen dates opening for the mighty Earth on the UK and Ireland leg of their current tour, a fact made all the more special given it is the first time that the American drone legends have been in this country for more than six years. Not surprisingly, this show, along with others on this tour, sold out weeks ago.
A support act will invariably have half an hour in which to try and impress an audience who are unfamiliar with their music and have only come to the show to see and hear the headliners. Maud the moth uses her time wisely. Thirty minutes and seven songs later, she will have gained many new followers, such is the rapt attention given to her by the increasing numbers in the crowd.
Sat centre stage between her Roland keyboard and Adrienne Davies of Earth’s splendid drum kit, Maud the moth goes first to ‘Finisterrae’ from her 2020 album Orphnē, setting a perfect scene for what will follow. With a background immersed in traditional Spanish music and a formal classical education, Amaya López-Carromero dismantles many of the preconceived notions about the piano’s place in modern music. The sounds that she evokes from her instrument, supplemented by a series of taped-loop effects and pre-recordings, often owe more to metal, punk, prog, and rock music.
The familiar call of birdsong introduces ‘Exuviae,’ the first of four consecutive songs she will perform from The Distaff, her sonorous voice floating high above the piano melody. The other three songs from The Distaff are ‘Burial of the Patriarchs’ – which lends much from her classical training; a thunderous solo live recreation of the full-band studio version of ‘A Temple by the River’ during which López-Carromero is up from her piano stool punching the air and adding even further impetus to her resounding vocals; and a most striking ‘Siphonophores.’
To end this excellent set, Maud the Moth and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her album The Inner Wastelands, she plays first ‘Empires’ – a melancholy solo piano recital – before ending with the wonderful ‘Turpentine.’ It is often dark, it is often heavy, it is always impressive.
Photos: Simon Godley
More photos of Maud the moth at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds
