Who didn’t have some homemade Fingerbobs as a child? The craft – and, of course, crafty – characters were an absolute must-have for kids, as their handmade designs ensured that the likes of Flash the tortoise and Scampi the prawn were well within the realms of a busy parent’s DIY capabilities. As the opening theme reminds us: “Yoffi lifts a finger and a mouse is there/Puts his hands together and a seagull takes the air…”
Yes, Fingermouse (“a sort of wonder mouse”) was the hero, and here we have music from the show soundtracking activities such as Fingermouse and Flash making sausages; or the former playing the organ (it’s a wonder what rodents can do when their bodies are actually hands…).
Fittingly, for such hands-on entertainment, this TV music is, in the main, close to the wonderfully charming sounds of Trunk’s 2006 release, Fuzzy-Felt Folk; yet it’s also chock-full of the invention you can hear in Vernon Elliott’s scores. Small band combos, penny whistles and music for drawing on stones – it’s a 25-minute portal beyond 70s parlours and into Fingerbobs’ idiosyncratic logic. We’ve heard the sound of one hand clapping… turns out it’s a lot like the noise a crow makes when it tries to drink a glass of water.
