Crystal Moth began in 2014 as a duo of percussionist/producer Patrick Dawes and drummer Paul May (both of psychedelic jazz collective Woven Entity), developing over the next year or two into a core group of players (all colleagues and collaborators). Working from small group improvisations or drum tracks, the band began overdubbing and shaping the music into a diverse range of styles. This was unsurprising given the background of the players (from dance to folk to blues to free improv to jazz and electronica).

There are four collections to be released on Tummy Touch Records over the coming months. The first, Crystal Moth ONE, is intense dark stuff but not without a bit of sunlight. The music drifts from ECM like ambience with Hume’s luminous piano to bursts of dark ambience with Marsh’s fuzzed out, damaged bass textures. Garwood’s distinctive, cloud-like feedback-drenched guitar alongside May’s drums, including additional deep concert toms, further accentuate the varying musical sections.



The Musicians

Carolyn Hume - Piano, Keyboards
Carolyn Hume's work as a musician and composer has spanned the worlds of classical music, free improvisation and progressive rock. She's recorded five critically lauded albums with Paul May for the esteemed Leo Records, and released two solo recordings (including compositions for voice and cello) for the same label. She has also written soundtracks for several short films. Hume also works with May, Marsh and Charlie Beresford in the improvising quartet Fourth Page, and has recently formed a new trio with Beresford and cellist Sonia Hammond.

Peter Marsh – Bass, Steel guitar

Peter Marsh has often been heard alongside Paul May over the last decade or so in a bewildering variety of contexts, including Woven Entity, Fourth Page and Duke Garwood. They also record as a duo, with a debut album released in 2013 on Linear Obsessional, and another in the pipeline. Marsh has provided soundtracks to short films by artists including Laura Cooper and Sami van Ingen. He has played with improvisers including Lol Coxhill, Steve Williamson, Martin Siewert, Paul Rutherford, Alan Wilkinson and David Toop to name a few. He's a member of Woven Entity and Fourth Page and plays in several other bands covering free improv, space rock, jazz and folk music.


Duke Garwood - Electric Guitar Duke Garwood is an acclaimed multi- instrumentalist and recording artist particularly known for his avant blues guitar and vocal style. Works of note include The Sand that Falls in 2009 on Fire Records and Heavy Love in 2015 on Heavenly. He has sang or played with David Sylvian, the Archie Bronson Outfit, Alexander Tucker and the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka. 2012 marked the beginning of Garwood’s working relationship with Mark Lanegan on his Blues Funeral album. He was co-credited with Lanegan for the universally acclaimed Black Pudding in 2013 and for With Animals in 2018.


Paul May - Drums

Paul May is one of the most respected drummers on the improvising circuit. His CV includes work with the likes of Alexander Hawkins, Tim Hodgkinson, Klaus Filip, Alan Wilkinson and Matthias Eick to name but a few. He's one of the founder members of Woven Entity, and has been a key member of a wide range of improv ensembles including Barkingside, Sound of the Sun, Found Drowned and Sonnamble. May has enjoyed a long working relationship with pianist Carolyn Hume which has resulted in several well received albums on Leo Records and led to the formation of the band Fourth Page. May is best known to wider audiences for his work with Duke Garwood and singer songwriter Petra Jean Phillipson.


Patrick Dawes - Percussion, Production

Patrick Dawes has been a working percussionist for three decades, beginning by working alongside DJs in clubs such as the Ministry of Sound. In 1995 he began a four year stint with The Herbaliser before joining Groove Armada for the best part of a decade. As well as working alongside the likes of the legendary Richie Havens, co-fronting quirky jazz-popsters Patrick and Eugene, and founding Woven Entity with Paul May and Lascelle Gordon, Dawes has released two solo albums for Tummy Touch; Circus Train in 2001 and in 2013, Raising Stone, an astonishingly eclectic collaborative record featuring a diverse range of talents including improvising vocalist Maggie Nicols, saxophonist Pete Wareham and early music specialist William Summers.