Moreland’s Ball

Melbourne ensemble The Woohoo Revue are one of those groups that’s impossible to categorise. Most would call them a ‘Gypsy’ band, but I doubt there’s a drop of real Roma blood in any of them. (In fact their scorching violinist Sarah Busuttil and guitarist Dannie McKenzie used to play in a band called The Counterfeit Gypsies.) But the Woohoos have much more going for them anyway: they’re vaudeville-meets-dancehall-meets-circus parade-meets cartoon soundtrack. And if pushed they could probably hold their own against both Fanfare Ciocarlia and Taraf de Haidouks, but you wouldn’t want to have to clean up the place afterwards. In short The Woohoo Revue are a Balkan-themed party waiting to happen, and once it starts there’s no turning back.

Their 2008 debut album Dear Animals was terrific, but this follow-up is an absolute cracker. With all of the crazy pieces falling into place, it’s brilliantly produced by Cat Empire’s audio engineer Adam Rhodes. With a horn section to die for, they’re augmented on one track by added brass muscle from the fictional Fat Tuesday Street Orchestra. Busuttil is on fire throughout, especially on ‘The Goose, The Moose & The Boose’, and I’d be surprised if she didn’t have to rehair her shredded violin bow during the recording. The high energy rarely lets up, with the only calm moments coming during the traditional Serbian tune ‘Srece’. The strings again battle for supremacy against frantic horn flurries on the closing ‘Dracul’. Delightful.