Played Cymru #10: The Best In New Welsh Music
Croeso! Welcome to Clash’s monthly new Welsh music round-up. Here, we take a look at the best new releases from emerging acts from Wales. This month’s column is a little later than usual (please forgive this writer’s illness last week) but it’s packed full of varied quality that we hope reveals the breadth of interesting music that this small country is continuing to produce.
Before we get into the rundown of releases; a quick look at happenings across Wales this month. We’ll start with a sad one; the loss of The Moon in Cardiff. This writer covered the closure in this extensive piece, so we don’t need to go into details here, other than to say that it’s a bitter pill to swallow and has left a gaping hole in the Welsh music scene. In better news; a massive congratulations to the wonderful charity Gig Buddies, who celebrated their Swansea launch with a show in Elysium headlined by Adwaith. Further West, Other Voices Festival took over Cardigan for a weekend early in the month. There was also a lineup announcement from Wrexham’s vital FOCUS Wales, whose 2025 festival is looking very exciting. Back in Cardiff, a bunch of killer events also took place. City kings Radar Magazine threw another party, Paradise Garden hosted a night of electronica in aid of RSPB Cymru and Clwb Ifor Bach hosted great gigs from the likes of Battles, Xiu Xiu and Man/Woman/Chainsaw. The challenges to our musical ecosystem may be growing ever more apparent, but great people are continuing to make great things.
Along with all this, November saw excellent new tracks from Adwaith, LEMFRECK, Papa Jupe’s T.C., Macy, Adjua, Waterpistol, Heartpiece, Luke RV, Esther, May Swoon, Melin Melyn, Hana Lili, Red Telephone, Wylderness and many others. Go check those out, but only once you’ve dived into the following releases, which traverse the country in search of eclectic musical brilliance.
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Alffa – ‘O’r Lludw / From Ashes’
Sitting somewhere between Queens Of The Stone Age and Soft Play, Alffa are a hard-gigging, bi-lingual two-piece that have not-so-quietly become a staple of the Welsh live music circuit.
Born in North Wales, they’ve been active since pre-pandemic, with a 2019 album already under their belt. ‘O’r Lludw / From Ashes’ is their second effort; another collection of minimalist hard rock that features enough ideas and intensity to make it more interesting than your average blues-y rock project.
The best tracks push the boat out, like ‘Pwythau’, which opens with distorted electronic drums, or ‘Breathe Free’, which is effectively dark techno. This kind of bold experimentation bodes well for the busy Alffa’s future.
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Gwenno Morgan – ‘gwyw’
Another musician hailing from North Wales (a theme that recurs in this month’s column), Gwenno Morgan’s latest ‘gwyw’ is here to pacify your soul. The accomplished young composer has come up with a beautiful record that tilts between jazz, classical and ambient; an immaculately arranged collection highlighting, above all else, its creator’s formidable piano skills.
‘Carlam’ is a resplendent wonder, ‘hedd’ a tranquil daydream, ‘edliw’ an post-rock epic. It’s a stunner and to top it all off there’s a guest feature from established jazz saxophonist Jasmine Myra. Gwenno Morgan has so much potential (I’d love to hear what she’d come up with for a film OST) and the miraculous ‘gwyw’ deserves to open up plenty of doors for her.
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Deprivation Of Liberty – ‘Soul Stripped Bare’
I’ve talked numerous times in this column about the killer hardcore scene that has sprung up in South Wales courtesy of Newport venue The Cab and the South Wales Collective.
Shredders Deprivation Of Liberty are among the scene’s most high-profile acts and ‘Soul Stripped Bare’ is their first proper release, not counting their two-song demo from the start of the year. As highlighted by the exhilarating ‘Numb’, this is teeth-smashing hardcore of the most metallic variety, built on intricate, tasteful riffs and endless bludgeoning, considerably less tasteful mosh parts. Solid production too; that snare drum could shatter glass.
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‘Stafell Sbâr Sain: Klust’
A collaboration between the old and the new, this brilliant compilation album sees the bi-lingual magazine KLUST team up with legendary label Sain Records.
Put together at Stiwdio Sain in North Wales, these ten tracks feature live recordings from some of Wales’ finest emerging artists (including Talulah, Wkrhouse, Siula).
The record is being released as part of a bundle with the new issue of KLUST and has been promoted by the magazine via a series of well-received shows in Wales and London. KLUST are doing great work promoting a classy, forward-thinking vision of Welsh music and deserve all your support and attention.
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Plant Bach Ofnus – ‘Symudiad Ymddangosol y Lleuad’
We’ll end with an oddity. This isn’t a new release, but a digital reissue of a little-known project from the late eighties/early nineties. Plant Bach Ofnus (translation: “Timid Little Children”) were an Anglesey-based husband and wife duo that put out a couple of ambient electronic releases and also played two sessions for John Peel.
‘Symudiad Ymddangosol y Lleuad’ (“Apparent Motion of the Moon”) was their only album and it deserves a bit of contemporary praise. This is terrific ambient-tronica that teeters between tranquil and emotive (‘Llawn’) to genuinely eerie (‘Chwarter Cyntaf’) and stakes a claim as an important piece of Welsh experimental music history.
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Words: Tom Morgan
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