The Moomins is a comic strip-based Finnish cartoon series that was broadcasted in the UK in the 1980s. Graeme Miller and Steve Shill, the former a composer and the latter a director and screenwriter, both British. While sharing a house in Leeds, they were asked to create a soundtrack for the soon-to-be cartoon, and UK label Finders Keepers released an album with a selection of their best work for the project.
Both Miller and Shill should be checked out for their separate projects as well, as they co-founded the Impact Theatre Co-Operative in the 70s, with Miller being a theatre maker working with various media and site-specific installations that set a direction in Britain’s alternative theatre.
With this background, The Moomins soundtrack emerged, probably triggering the British nostalgic audience into another reading of childhood memories. Like many other pop culture products of the era, behind the mainstream façade lay conjurers of eerie sounds, in this case DIY-feel synths, ocarinas, and playful soundscapes that expand from their condition of accompaniment to a self-governing universe. It feeds a need to look again into the spoon-fed psychedelia behind late 20th century TV screens.
Released for the first time by Finders Keepers, it’s reissued now, bringing to light bizarro memory lanes.
Tracklist:
A1 The Moomins ThemeA2 Travelling Theme
A3 Hobgoblin's Hat
A4 Leaving Moomin Valley
A5 Moomins Partytime
A6 Hattyfatteners Row
A7 Woodland Band
A8 Most Unusual
B1 Midwinter Rites
B2 Piano Waltz
B3 Creepers
B4 Woodland Band (Far Away)
B5 Comet Shadow
B6 Comet Theme
B7 The Moomins Theme (End Titles)