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Review: Gwenno - Ymbelydredd [EP]

Peski Records // "A collection of stories that will set to be repeated for years to come"

by Ffion Davies +, August 15th, 2012 and has been Read 900 times.
Last Edited by: Chris MUG5 Maguire August 15th, 2012.

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There’s something mystical about Wales. There’s magic captured between the mountains, down the rolling rivers and sweeping across the beaches, gripping onto the breeze that’s been caressing the country as a whole for centuries. You might think it’s hard to believe with the hustle and bustle of city life, but if you’re driving through Snowdonia in the dead of the night, standing at dusk on the very edge of the Wales next to the sea, or listening to Gwenno’s music, then you can feel the spellbinding aura.

WATCH // 'Ymbelydredd'

You might know Gwenno from her time singing with The Pippettes, but she has returned to making music and singing through the medium of Welsh for the first time in over a decade, and her new anthology of sensational ditties is called Ymbelydredd (radiation). I don’t think it’s radiation in the chemical form, but the ability of something to penetrate, and in this instance, it’s the memories from her childhood and beyond that were created between the dwellings in Cardiff.

Ymbelydredd showcases Gwenno’s deliciously haunting voice perfectly. She manipulates the language in a glorious way, enabling her to dance upon the music in an effortless way. There’s quite a hefty bit of tradition attached to Welsh, with it being the oldest language in Europe, but Gwenno fuses fragments of history and entwines euphoric, psychedelic elements into it. It still sounds modern and fresh though, with the echoing production techniques being used to create something completely unique. Gwenno drapes her voice over lo fi synths, balmy bass and cascading beats, making Ymbelydredd not only an artistic wonderment, but a collection of stories that will set to be repeated for years to come, whether you understand Welsh or not.

Ymbelydredd is set to be released August 27th