Label sy'n rhoi llwyfan i artistiaid gwerin / acwstig cyfoes Cymraeg.
Gallwch brynu'r CDs o wefan Sain, www.sainwales.com, neu yn ddigidol trwy itunes. Dosbarthir ym Mhrydain gan Proper Distribution
Contemporary folk and acoustic artists from Wales.
CDs available from Sain's website, www.sainwales.com, or digitally through itunes. Distributed by Proper Distribution in the UK.
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9bach - 9bach
The Guardian, 21/08/09
Some of the great delights of traditional songs are the often brutal or wildly emotional stories they tell, but here’s a debut British folk album that is compelling even for those who can’t understand a word of what is being sung. 9bach are a Welsh band who specialise in composing new arrangements for traditional Welsh folk songs, and succeed even without singer Lisa Jen Brown explaining what they are about. The band is special both because of her exquisite, clear vocals and the highly original arrangements. In part, the backing is gentle and easy-going, with her cool voice matched against harp and harmonium. As on the easygoing ‘Llongau Caernarfon’ or the gentle singalong ‘C’weiriwch fy Nhwely’. Elsewhere, a rock lineup is added into the mix with bass and guitar providing an unexpectedly edgy contrast to the acoustic playing. Brown clearly has the potential to match Scotland’s Julie Fowlis as a British star who doesn’t sing in English. Robin Denselow.
Uncut, September 2009
Welsh language folk, heavy on atmosphere
‘New folk from the old country’ boasts their label, itself tellingly named after an album by Meic Stevens, Godfather of welsh language independent music. The core of 9bach is guitarist Martin Hoyland and singer Lisa Jen, and everything is exquisitely sung in Jen’s native toungue, her voice reminiscent of Clannad era Enya. Underpinned by tradition, their haunting songs come embellished with harp and harmonium, but are invariably drenched in electric guitar, heavy bass, drums and Fender Rhodes. The result, highlighted by ‘Mae’n Nhw’n Dwedyd’ is a melange of Portishead, Cocteau Twins and Lorca-era Tim Buckley.
Mick Houghton
The Gentle Good – While You Slept I Went Out Walking
Uncut, February 2009
Bob Harris-endorsed folky shows promise.
Cardiffian Gareth Bonello has been performing as The Gentle Good since 2003. His 2007 EP, Dawel Disgyn (Gentle Falls), and live performances at festivals such as the Green Man and Latitude, have begun to establish his reputation, and this first album may see the breakthrough. Bonello’s finger-pickin’ ragtime guitar work is married with deep, sonorous strings on the most obviously commercial track, Waiting for Jane, but it’s the album’s opener, A Man Made of Moss, which looks like being his signature song. “I like woodland,” he says on his Myspace page, and a world of Celtic mysticism and solitude invades the airy music. Of the 10 tracks here, half are sung in Welsh. The contours of his lonely voice on such as Baled y Confict bring to mind Mick Drake and Martin Carthy, yet it remains resolutely his own. David Buckley
Lleuwen - Penmon
Jazzwise Magazine, August 2007
Like the sound of an 11-track collection sung entirely in Welsh, inspired by the Anglesey landscape? Franky neither did I until Lleuwen's remarkable Penmon slowly drip-feeded its way into my consciousness. You may have come across the singer songwriter already, either as a member of the band Acoustique or for her much lauded 2005 album with Huw Warren and Mark Lockheart. From the Welsh speaking heartlands of north Wales, and successfully mining a range of influences from Ella to Joni to Welsh hymnody, Penmon (named after her Anglesey home) ranges from the most tender lyricism to enchanting flights of passion. Beginning with the gentle lapping of waves, distant cry of a seabird, and a circular soprano sax riff calling out into the firmament, the opener 'Pererinion' is the perfect scene-setter. Featuring minimal, and always discreet, accompaniment, an album of standouts includes the impossibly pure and ethereally beautiful 'Dy Gynnal Di', the seraphic choral harmonies of 'Bore Sadwrn', the gorgeous piano/vocal 'Rhosyn Saron' and the more impassioned delivery and irresistible backbeat of 'Wyt ti Yna?'. Once heard, you can't help but fall under the singer's spell. File under: leftfield classic. Peter Quinn
Guardian, 10/08/07
Best known for her highly original treatment of Welsh hymns with pianist Huw Warren, Lleuwen Steffan is one of the more quirkily intriguing singers on the new Welsh music scene. This latest set, inspired by her home in Penmon, Anglesey, sees her covering her own charmingly breathy songs, while exploring a variety of different styles. She's best when at her most straightforward, with her quietly soulful but gently dramatic and theatrical songs backed by Warren's accordion and piano. Elsewhere, some of the production work is both unnecessary and heavy handed but she does manage to constantly surprise, from a jaunty song like 'Daear a Haul' to the sudden appearance of a male voice choir on the final track.
Acoustic Magazine, October 2007
The second release from acclaimed Welsh jazz/folk singer Lleuwen. This is unique. The setting of songs sung in Europe's oldest continuously spoken language in a modern jazz idiom is startling. For someone who grew up with Welsh non-conformity Lleuwen's interpretation of Anne Griffith's 'Rhosyn Saron' is as shocking as anything as anything the Sex Pistols recorded (though for different reasons). An amazing album. Richard Thomas
Helo Gwymon, diolch am ofyn i mi bod eich "ffrind", dw i eisio bod ! Dwi wedi gwrando ar eich miwsic efo gwahanol artistiaid, ac mae'n hyfryd ! Diolch am rhoi calon i mi i gadw ymlaen efo canu mewn ieithod llai enwog na lleill, ond mor bwysyg. Cyfarchion o Lydaw ! Nolwenn
