GWENNO
Wins Welsh Language Album of the Year Award
Autumn H.Hawkline UK tour dates
Y DYDD OLAF (The Last Day) out now via Heavenly Recordings
Following excellent reviews for her just-released debut solo album Y DYDD OLAF (press quotes below), GWENNO has been awarded the Welsh Language Album of the Year at the annual Eisteddfod festival, a celebration of all things Welsh.
Of winning the award Gwenno says: “I think that celebrating the fact that so many Welsh albums have been released this year is important, it doesn’t really matter who the winner is because no one piece of music is better than the other. So I’d like to say a huge congratulations to all those who have managed to create an album this year, and cheers to the Eisteddfod for acknowledging contemporary music – here’s to DIY!” Catch GWENNO live on the below UK tour dates:
Friday 14th August – CARDIGAN – Caught By The River
Sunday 6th September – PORTMEIRION – Festival No. 6
Co-Headline tour with H.Hawkline:
Thursday 17th September – LEEDS – Brudenell Games Room
Friday 18th September – GLASGOW – The Hug & Pint
Saturday 19th September – NEWCASTLE – Think Tank
Sunday 20th September – MANCHESTER – Soup Kitchen
Tuesday 22nd September – LONDON – Oslo
Wednesday 23rd September – BRISTOL – Louisiana
Thursday 24th September – BRIGHTON – The Basement
Friday 25th September – CARDIFF – Clwb Ifor Bach
Saturday 26th September – BIRMINGHAM – Rainbow Club
Critical acclaim for Y DYDD OLAF, out now on Heavenly Recordings:
“Y Dydd Olaf is at once spooky and playful, romantic and angry… Mixing an ancient, bucolic language with otherworldly dance music is a genius move.”
MOJO – 4 Stars ****
“Her solo debut channels Broadcast and Boards Of Canada via fragrant kosmische grooves as she sings a socialist manifesto inspired, in part, by Welsh writer Owain Owain’s ’70s dystopian novel, Y Dydd Olaf… Seldom is the personal married to the political in such an enchanting fashion.”
Uncut – 8/10
“Saunders immediately commuincates a sense of fracture and collapse, the dying fall of Golau Arall or the chaotic pop static of Stwff unfolding against an ominous deep red horizon… This record demands what’s left of your time.”
Q – 4 Stars ****
“The tunes are gorgeous throughout. Saunders sounds like a more mellifluous Trish Keenan on the Broadcast-cum-Stereolab stomp of ‘Patriarchaeth’ and the dreamy title track, while the decaying, blissed-out coda to ‘Sisial Y Mor’ disguises some ominous portents. Dystopia has never sounded so alluring.”
Loud & Quiet – 9/10
“The Welsh-language debut by the former Pipettes frontwoman pairs luscious, breathy vocals and sci-fi themes with funky electronica and industrial clanks – the sound of the M4 meeting the autobahn.”
Time Out – 4 Stars ****
“Blissful, dreamy psychedelia, full of twinkling electronics and metronomic drums.”
Evening Standard – 4 Stars ****
“A record so effortlessly coherent, consistent and engaging as to be almost perfect… A fabulous voyage that delights at every unexpected turn.”
Record Collector – 4 Stars ****
“A neatly devised tribute to 1970s electronic pop, all vintage synthesizers and propulsive krautrock beats, with echos of Goldfrapp and Stereolab.”
Financial Times – 4 Stars ****
“This is the perkiest slice of welsh language krautrock-inflected electro-pop you’ll hear for quite some time.”
Shindig – 4 Stars ****
“The choice of language (one the English tried to eradicate) is a metaphor for political defiance. Its also floats beautifully over the album’s retro krautrock/space-rock soundscape, creating a Goldfrappian album you should hear.”
Sunday Times
“One of the most magical, mysterious and beguiling albums of 2015.”
DIVA
“The best concept record of the decade so far… Y Dydd Olaf sets critiques of technology, patriarchy and state-approved propaganda to silver-suited krautpop, sprinkled with ray-gun synth effects and warm vocal harmonies.”
London In Stereo
“A revolutionary feminist concept album full of righteous political ire… Ambient krautpop beats and space-echo chimes underpin Gwenno’s luscious vocals.”
NME
“Welsh language sci-fi inspired politically charged krautpop – what’s not to like?”
Electronic Sound
Taking its cue, and title, from Owain Owain’s 1976 novel about a dystopian future where the robots have taken over and are busily turning the human race into clones through the use of medication, Y DYDD OLAF blends big themes, great tunes, and a real sense of revolution to produce a powerful, politically-charged concept album. The album, which is sung entirely in Welsh, apart from one song in Cornish, is a political and feminist record, and a cultural document and celebration of what is unique about life in modern day Britain. Click HERE to listen to new single ‘Patriarchaeth’, one of the album’s many stand-out tracks.
Y DYDD OLAF is out now on Heavenly Recordings.
Watch Gwenno perform ‘Chwyldro’ in session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0uxmtsLNJ4
Chwyldro – Andrew Weatherall Remix
https://soundcloud.com/heavenlyrecordings/sets/chwyldro-andrew-weatherall
Connect:
https://www.facebook.com/Gwennomusic
https://twitter.com/gwennosaunders
http://www.gwenno.info/
https://www.facebook.com/HeavenlyRecordings
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