Music
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The Roaring Girl Cabaret deliver a spicy mix of jazz, classical, opera and folk with an overall sound that walks the line between traditional and contemporary. It's an admirable balancing act. Ringleader, vocalist, violinist and lyricist Miranda Mulholland is the driving force behind this quartet, and her opera-trained voice lilts and soars over original compositions mixed with a few covers such as Kate Bush's "Army Dreamers," traditional folk number "Sweet By And By" and the famous Carmen aria, "L'Amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle" (a.k.a. "Habanera"). The deck is stacked with a handful of guest appearances by the likes of Sarah Slean, John Dinsmore, Neville Quinlan (NQ Arbuckle) and Justin Rutledge. In Last Night's Party Clothes is a smart, sexy, sly and delicious debut. - CHARTattack - Shannon Whibbs
In Last Night's Party Clothes
The Roaring Girl Cabaret
Independent
The term "roaring girl" was originally adapted as the female equivalent to a "roaring boy", used to identify a man who caroused publicly, brawled, and committed petty crimes. Such a character was immortalized in a Jacobean comedy, "The Roaring Girl" by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker around 1610. The spirit of such a cunning wench has found her modern counterpart in this CD titled "In Last Night's Party Clothes".
Classically trained, eclectically-influenced and equally skilled as a singer and violinist, Miranda Mulholland deftly heads this ensemble of similarly diverse musicians to produce an album suitable to the varied tastes of an audience as fun-loving, intelligent and savvy as their earlier counterparts. Quirky, clever and compelling accompaniments combined with the ability to tell a story without excess of text, by means of innuendo and implied under-currents, makes for a most agreeable cabaret experience. There is a trio of songs placed one after the other that provide a lot of fun: "Champagne" with its saucy vocals and glockenspiel bubbles, reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe; "I Scare You" with its eerie violin harmonics and "Conducting Affairs" provide a triptych on the theme of forbidden fruit. Covers are done equally well, from Kate Bush's anti-war song "Army Dreamers" to a nice little cafe version of Bizet's "Habanera" complete with electric guitar solo, to the redemptive "Sweet By And By" with lovely bluegrass harmonies and excellent dobro work. Put on your red dress - this CD is a party unto itself. - Whole Note Magazine - Dianne Wells
(For Miranda Mulholland)
By KELLY DOODY
Men raised a glass while their wives swooned beside them as Mr. Cuddy took to the stage and belted out an hour or two of both Blue Rodeo hits and a selection of super singles alongside an amazing violinist by the name of Miranda Mulholland. She came close to breaking a bow while he managed to snap a guitar string, making for a spectacularly unexpected duet performance and an already incredible evening becoming just a little more amazing. - The Calgary Sun
(For Miranda Mulholland)
By Lynn Saxberg
Despite the frigid weather conditions, it was still a beautifully romantic song for Valentine’s Eve, and gloves or not, Cuddy and his bandmates gave it the full treatment, expanding its musical scope with expressive violin work from the flame-haired Miranda Mulholland and the usual mind-boggling guitar wizardry from Colin Cripps (a.k.a. Mr. Kathleen Edwards).
- Ottawa Citizen
"The Roaring Girl Cabaret brought a wonderful, energetic performance to the TSO's tsoundcheck party. They are a lively and talented group!"
Peter Oundjian, Conductor, Toronto Symphony Orchestra - Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Discography
In Last Night's Party Clothes, 2008, Independent
Miranda Mulholland has played/sung on:
Vocals The Baroness Sarah Slean, 2008, Warner (JUNO NOMINEE 2009)
Fiddle Winter in Babylon Kevin Quain, 2008
Fiddle XO,K N.Q. Arbuckle, 2008, Six Shooter (JUNO NOMINEE 2009)
Violin Man Descending Justin Rutledge, 2008, Six Shooter
Fiddle Live Music The Rattlesnake Choir, 2008, Cousin Jeb
Fiddle Man of Your Dreams Luther Wright, 2008
Vocals Courting Stories The Skye Consort , 2008, Ombu
Fiddle Take No Prisoners The Mahones, 2006, Stumble Records
Vocals/Fiddle Mill Sessions The Glengarry Bhoys, 2006, Universal
Fiddle/Vocals Alejandro Escovedo Benefit CD Bob Egan/Blue Rodeo, 2004
Photos
Bio
THE ROARING GIRL CABARET
In Last Night’s Party Clothes (2008)
www.theroaringgirlcabaret.com
“A Roaring Girl (whose notes ‘till now ne’er were)/Shall fill with laughter our vast theatre.”
-Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girl
Some music is meant to be heard in dark clandestine lounges, where candles cast shadows on the walls and the scent of opium and Gauloises fills the air. Some music is meant to be heard in majestic theatres, all klieg lights and plush velvet seating, where the boom of tympanis and the graceful lilt of a bravura mezzo-soprano echo off the gilded rafters. Some music is meant to be heard in the quaintest of Old World locals, cozy pubs where Guinness flows like water and a weekend fiddler and his mates can’t help but burst into an impromptu ceilidh.
Toronto’s Roaring Girl Cabaret concocts a captivating blend of all these things and more, combining the dazzling technical prowess of an opera-trained vocalist with the unpretentious joy of a fiddle-driven reel, the mathematical precision of jazz-inflected rhythms with the swagger and sigh of the saddest country ballads. Though one could posit the group’s sound – a sort of magical contemporary spin on classic European cabaret music – is more than the sum of its parts, to suggest such a thing is to underestimate the formidable talents who make up the Roaring Girl Cabaret.
The RGC is on the verge of becoming one of T.O.’s finest musical supergroups. Guelph native, Co-founder and frontwoman Miranda Mulholland brings a background in Opera Performance and classical violin to the stage, skills that have served her well in stints as both a theatre actor and as a singer and violinist with countless bands (the Mahones, the Paperboys, Luther Wright and the Wrongs and her own Mulholland Drive, as well as cameos on albums by everyone from Justin Rutledge to Sarah Slean, to name just a few). The de facto roaring girl in her own cabaret, Mulholland is expertly assisted by jazz-trained guitarist Jennifer Bryan (whose metalhead pedigree also lends the RGC a hardcore edge), bass ace Adrienne Lloyd (a classical geek who sidelines as one-third of alt-rock spitfires Hunter Valentine), and percussion whiz Robin Pirson, who got his start playing grimy country bars with his cowboy-wranglin’ dad before pursuing post-secondary studies in jazz. All told, you could probably a dictionary-sized tome with the core quartet’s collected resume credits – and that’s not even counting occasional Roaring guests like N.Q. Arbuckle, Sarah Slean and Justin Rutledge (all of whom show up on the RGC’s stellar debut album).
After a year of honing their craft in live settings (through innovative performances that have included burlesque dancers-as-merch girls, synchronous collaborations with visual artists and busker-type musicians planted in the crowd), the Roaring Girl Cabaret are finally ready to unleash (to paraphrase one of their song titles) the lion in the streets. That is to say, they’re about to present the world with their first full-length recording, Last Night’s Party Clothes.
The album is stunning in its ambition and scope. You’ll find an arch postmodern reworking of Kate Bush’s ethereal (and still relevant) “Army Dreamers,” bolstered by the sly addition of a Yankee banjo intro. You’ll find a cover of contemporary Hogtown cabaret king Kevin Quain’s heartbreaking “Las Vegas,” and another of alt-country sweetheart Jenny Whiteley’s blackly comic “I Scare You.” You’ll find Mulholland’s controlled vibrato curling around the satisfyingly bloody “Lion In The Streets,” like a smug cat chasing the stumbling pizzicato strings and staccato guitar. You’ll find the lazy-Sunday duet “Sweet By And By,” an irreverent take on an old-school pas-de-deux that comes off like gospel after a few too many shots of bourbon. You’ll find the fizzy hiccup of “Champagne,” a delightful trifle based on bons mots from bubbly mogul Lily Bollinger.
This is required listening for anyone who’s ever reeled from the sucker-punch of one of Tom Waits’s junkyard roots rambles, anyone who’s swooned in ecstasy after stumbling upon an vintage tinny recording of Sarasate, anyone who’s grinned in glee at the hyperliterate wit of a dark Weill and Brecht excerpt. Most folks assume you can’t find music like this anymore, and they’re right – unless you’re lucky to enter the fantastic inner sanctum of the Roaring Girl Cabaret.
http://www.myspace.com/mirandamulholland
http://www.myspace.com/theroaringgirlcabaret
Classically trained on violin and in voice, Miranda is a versatile performer and in high demand as a fiddler and singer covering a wide range of styles.
In addition to varied studio work, she has toured extensively in Europe and North America with the celtic rock bands The Mahones and The Peelers, The Paperboys, The Glengarry Bhoys and the alt-country band Luther Wright and the Wrongs. She was a member of the Canadian cast of Barrage and was the vocal and fiddle soloist for the Irish dance
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