Howl Griff are that rarest of commodities: a Welsh-speaking band with only one Welsh member.
Thankfully it’s the singer.
The eponymous Griff – real name Hywel – is quite a character. A beekeeper by day, he’s been known to give honey away at gigs and has been stung so often his blood is now awash with enough venom to kill a small bison. Not that you come across many bison in Aberystwyth.
Here he’s joined by a Boltonian guitarist, Tasmanian bass player and Scouse drummer, plus ex-members of Spiritualized (Tim Lewis) on keyboard/engineering and Catatonia (Owen Powell) in the production booth to crank out a breezy collection of guitar-pop nuggets. And very fine they are too.
It’s hard to judge the quality of the lyrics, of course, but Griff belts them out with a growly lustiness that contrasts nicely with the angelic harmonies sung, presumably, by the rest of the band, who don’t really know what they mean.
No matter, as it all adds to the agreeable ambience. Think Grand Prix-era Teenage Fanclub given a tantalising Taff twist, or even a jangly clash of the valleys: San Fernando versus Rhondda, California via Cymru.
As a Welsh Brian Wilson would have put it: Help Me Rhondda.
