A return to the Cornish Bank just short of a year since my last visit, with an altogether different vibe this time – swapping the big band soul warmth of Midland outfit Stone Foundation for the sonic explorations of Kernow psych folk survivors Hanterhir and London-based dreampop warriors Keeley.

I say London but lead singer/main songwriter Keeley Moss came that way via Dublin a couple of years ago while Cornwall born and bred bass player Lukey Foxtrot was on his first visit to his homeland in a decade, this Redruth lad spending two years here in Falmouth before heading upcountry, and clearly chuffed (or should that be choughed?) to be back.

As for drummer Andrew Paresi, you may recall the name from his stint at the kit in Morrissey’s early solo years, also appearing on Sandie Shaw’s Hello Angel LP. Which means he must feature on a few of my coveted singles, not least ‘Sandie’s take on ‘Hand in Glove’ and Mozza’s ‘Suedehead’. And that’s fairly relevant seeing as the band opened for tribute act The Smyths at Exeter Phoenix the following night. Not as if you’d see Andrew shout about his past from the rooftops, a seemingly ‘head down’ performer happier taking third billing among his bandmates.

And while taking their name from singer, guitarist and chief songwriter Keeley Moss, this is certainly a collective. A musically tight one at that. I’ve said many a time you can’t hide in a threepiece, and Keeley’s ‘on the road’ presence across the UK and beyond of late has certainly honed a formidable act’s performance acumen and songwriting sharpness. That’s included a couple of dozen live shows this year, their biggest tally yet… and you can tell.

Chatting to Ms Moss later, she told me she’d taken advice subtly woven into my past reviews and cut down on her stage talk. Please don’t blame me though, indie kids – I liked the chatter, and if anything I at least expected a little discourse on the sole (and soul) inspiration for her creative endeavours, Inga Maria Hauser, the young German tourist so sadly robbed of her life on her UK travels in 1988, around the time Sandie was enjoying a highly welcome comeback.

Nothing short of driven in her quest for justice for Inga and in a thirst for music and creative endeavours, Keeley and co. released their fourth LP in as many years recently, Girl on the Edge of the World represented by the first four numbers of a mighty nine-song set, including its expansive opening statements (on vinyl and at the Cornish Bank), ‘Hungry for the Prize’ and ‘Crossing Lands’, then the truly swirling, poignant ‘Who Wants to See the World?’ and subtly stirring, reflective LP finale ‘Trains and Daydreams’.

In a new world of song streaming that brings in bugger all band income, I’m not sure how many have latched on to their impressive catalogue so far, but reviews I’ve seen are rightly positive, and Keeley has great support from two of the few radio shows I regularly tune in for, The Undertones’ Mickey Bradley weekly show on BBC Radio Ulster and local lad made good Barry Gribble’s Source FM show from Falmouth, the latter among those who nipped to the Bank on a hot, humid Friday night to support this happening.

The music certainly did the talking here, all three bandmates on top of their game in a compelling set. And like Joyce and Rourke made The Smiths a proper collective beyond Morrissey and Marr’s  songcraft, Foxtrot and Paresi add true depth to Keeley’s compositions, happy-sad guitar and sweet but anguished vocal, Lukey’s pumping bass neatly accentuated by facial expressions suggesting he too never gives less than the required 100 per cent. What’s more, our Cornish returnee was more than happy to provide ’tween song small talk, his lead singer more low key either side of those song choices but clearly determined to deliver.

From 2023’s Floating Above Everything Else we got a thought-provoking ‘Seeing Everything’ before the first two of three songs from 2024’s Beautiful Mysterious, ‘Forever Froze’s grand guitar riff perfectly supported by ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’-like bass and drums, before something of a visionary touch as Andrew started out on 2023’s ‘Arrive Alive’ a song early before the trio stopped then reconvened with another 2024 cut, ‘Inga Hauser’. And it seems only right that German synth pop exponents Propaganda spring to mind for me on the latter – I could hear Claudia Brucken on this number, this lad transported back in time, all part of a source soundtrack that truly gives us time and place.

And while it seems rather churlish to suggest penultimate choice ‘Arrive Alive’ has truly stood the band’s own test of time, seeing as it’s barely four years old, it’s a song that perfectly encapsulates for me all that is embedded in Keeley’s 1988 subject matter, a year when this perennial 20 going on 21-year-old bought countless records, saw more than 60 live shows, and was truly on his way out into the world. The fact that I made it on from there while Inga Maria Hauser didn’t see out April ’88 makes this story all the more sad and Keeley’s determined journey as a creative artist dedicated to this 18-year-old Munich backpacker all the more real. Hopefully the truth will finally surface and prosecutions will follow soon, for the sake of her friends, family and all that is good in this twisted world.

As for highly emotive ‘Trans-Europe 18’, with its nod to early OMD and Eighties indie music a part of that, this remains a neat way to finish, a song relatively recently added to the set when I last saw Keeley in Preston, Lancashire in Spring 2024 still rightly deemed a showstopper.

From blissful dreampop to immersive REM therapy and mystic soundscapes, Keeley soon gave way to Hanterhir (Ben Harris – vocals, guitar; Jason Brown – drums; Grant Kellow – bass; Mike Hewitt – saxophone; Lou Peixinha – flute, violin, shruti box; Peasy – guitar), who toured with Hawkwind last year. And not having caught the headliners before, there was something of a lightbulb moment (and I wasn’t even drinking Verdant Brewery’s on-tap offering, on account of a dark drive home through the ‘untamed landscapes’ that inspire this sextet) when I realised a few of those alongside during Keeley’s set were now on stage, the fella with the expressive dance moves at work the rest of the night on sax.

For me there was something of a nod to early Andy Mackay in Mike Hewitt’s approach, not least on a highly dynamic ‘Tekka Ha Hwekka’, but also Nik Turner and Don Van Vliet, on a night in which the headliners thrived in home surroundings on this, their sole summer all-electric engagement.

How best to describe Hanterhir? With difficulty, I’d say. They signpost a rich tapestry of psychedelic rock, folk and post-punk, haunting melodies, driving rhythms and ethereal soundscapes in something of a cinematic journey, and I see and hear that. I’ve heard a description of forest punk too. But the moment you try to suss them out, they head off in another direction. And having made their live debut in my adopted hometown of Redruth in Summer 2009, they continue to push at sonic boundaries 17 years on, singing in both Cornish and English, branching out in that respect before Gwenno helped spread the word and the possibilities.

This punter felt a Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu presence over a Levellers undertow in places, their ragged Celtic pagan leanings given proper credence without so much clear water but added revivalist spirit. I’m no aficionado and don’t feel I can truly give you chapter and verse, but it was a set that switched between more intense and dreamier elements, taking us from one realm to the next as if fleeing from potential pigeonholes. Into the mystic, as Van the Man put it.

For example, the instrumentation on 2018’s ‘Hello Sunshine’ and ‘Lovelight’ carries something of a Psychedelic Furs feel beneath surface riffage that grows increasingly heavier – tin and copper edged rather than Black Country informed metal, methinks – on two of many slowburners, the latter almost Sea Power-like in its pop-rock complexity.

They took the pace briefly down a notch with a stirring ‘Arloedthes an Lydn’ (‘Lady of the Lake’), one of four choices from 2018’s The Saving of Cadan, the aforementioned sax player getting something of a workout. At times, it’s like he’s in a different band to the fiddle, flute and drone player. Yet it’s a sound collage that truly works.

Latest single ‘An Lyver Agan Tavas’ also impressed (am I the only one to pick up on a rather unlikely China Crisis melody? ‘King in a Kernewek Style’, anyone?), while a more in your face, fully-fledged ‘The Centre of All’ led to the atmospheric ‘Weighed Time’, one of three selections from second LP Agapus, and ‘The Carn Marth Song’ (a million miles from Aphex Twin’s own tribute to this mighty local landmark) from their self-titled 2010 debut, both truly evocative songs I feel Midnight Oil might have come up with in their mid-Eighties prime, the latter with a real mystical top of the morning feel.   

From there we had an all guns blazing ‘Om Gonfort’ from Agapus, before the layer upon layer power of ‘TLC’ from that same LP wrapped things up, an alternative disco dance competition going on up on stage and out there… truly out there. I thought ‘A New Horizon’ from the first LP, which proffers something of a Stones feel – late Seventies era – in Ben Harris’ Jagger-like delivery, and ‘The Fisherman’, which has the feel of a lesser-known Mick Jones-fronted Clash song, also featured. Apparently not. I guess that’s the danger of immersing yourself in a band’s back catalogue, post-gig, believing you heard something it turns out you didn’t. And there are plenty more Hanterhir songs out there to marvel at.

All in all, I’d add a less than confident, somewhat mumbled, ‘Meur ras, onan hag oll,’ as they’ve been known to say in these parts (and far better than I can). Yes, cheers one and all, and here’s to Keeley’s Far West return and more Hanterhir happenings soon.

For this website’s initial feature-interview with Keeley Moss, from July 2021, head here. And for the most recent Keeley live review, from the Ferret in Preston in March 2024, head here.

And for all the latest from Keeley, including forthcoming dates and releases, try here. And for more about Hanterhir, where they’re at, and what’s out there, past releases wise, head here.

With added thanks to Barry Gribble for having words with Grant Kellow about the Hanterhir setlist. You can catch Barry’s Tunes to Help you Breathe More Easily live interview with Keeley on Source FM by following this link and seeking out the Friday 3 July edition of his show.