Mohelmot

Won't you keep us working? Working down below?
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The Mohelmot (also referred to as Moles, Pit Moles, or Hole-Workers) are a fictional race of cloaked, tunnel-dwelling humanoids who are the focus of The Residents' multimedia project, The Mole Trilogy, consisting of the albums Mark of the Mole, The Tunes of Two Cities, and The Big Bubble, released between 1981 and 1985.

In the Mole Trilogy, the Mohelmot are forced from their homes (a series of underground tunnels and caverns known as Havehome, or "the Pit") under the ground by a natural disaster and seek refuge with the more technologically advanced but lazy and vacuous Chubs. Tensions between the two cultures leads to a brief civil war with no clear victor, resulting in the uneasy coexistence of the two cultures for several decades, with mixed-race marriages and breeding becoming common between the two cultures.

Despite laws banning the use of the Mohelmot language in public, a subculture of traditional Mohelmot known as Zinkenites developed, with leaders such as Kula Bocca. Zinkenite ideals are expressed in the music of The Big Bubble, who perform in the Mohelmot language and capture the mood of the Zinkenite crowd with anthems such as "Cry for the Fire."

Development[]

Within the actual music of Mark of the Mole, the Mohelmot are exclusively referred to as either the Pit Moles or the Underground Workers, and it is only within the packaging that the names 'Hole Workers' or 'Mole' were used. The Moles are depicted as a hardworking, primitive and deeply religious culture; worshiping multiple Gods who assure them of the glories of hard work; the most notable of which is the God of Darkness, for whom the song "Won't You Keep Us Working?" is dedicated.

The album The Tunes of Two Cities (released in March of 1982) focuses on the musical culture of the Moles and the Chubs (also from the Mark of the Mole album.) The Moles' songs, "A Maze of Jigsaws," "God of Darkness," "Praise for the Curse," "The Secret Seed," "Mourning The Undead," "The Evil Disposer" and the outtake "Anvil Forest," are experimental in nature, utilising harsh sounds, and, notably, featuring low gravelly nonsense vocals supposedly in their native language.

In October of 1982, The Residents premiered their Mole Show and Matt Howarth debuted his Cryptic Corporation endorsed Comix of Two Cities. Whilst The Mole Show offered tantalising nuggets of information towards the Moles' culture through Penn Jilette's narration and the painted backdrops, Howarth's comic was dedicated entirely to his interpretation of the music features on the Tunes album.

Sometime during the production of The Mole Show, The Residents constructed a detailed plot outline for the show, which features nuggets of lore relating to both The Moles' and The Chubs' cultures. This document was private for years, but was eventually revealed by Residents fan Irma Buddy, who had read the document when helping construct the book Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to The Residents.