Matching Mole, Progressive Style, Genre and Protest

After providing a brief analysis of selected tracks from the band’s two official albums, the paper will consider how their creative output resonates with genre, stylistic labelling and protest narratives. This short-lived band were formed during the last couple of months of 1971, after Robert Wyatt had completed his five-year tenure in Soft Machine, with the name simply being a sarcastic pun on the French translation of his old band – Machine Molle. In addition to Wyatt, the band consisted of Phil Miller on guitar, Dave Sinclair and Dave MacRea on keys and Bill MacCormick on bass. I had the opportunity to interview three of the five members when putting together this paper.