______ ________
______ \ / ' \ /
\ / \ / : \ /
\ / \/ . . ... .. ...:... . . \ /
_\/___________ _ ___________ _ __________ : \/ ______
____ / / /_____/_/ \_______/ / \ ' \ /
\ / / / / / \ \/ /____ : _ ______ \ /
\/ / / / / \ / / \ _________/ / \ \/
/ / / X / / \/ / \/ \ ____
/ / / / / / / / \/ / \ \ /
\_\_____/ / / / / / / / \ \/
sH!/ / / / / / / / / \
'17/ / / / / / / / / \
___ \_\_______\ /_____ _\______/ / / X
________ \ \ /_ __\_\_____/ / / / / /
\ / _ __ \_\________/ \ \ / /
\ / _ __\_\_______/ /
\ /__________ / / /____
\/ \ / _ ____\_\_____________/ \ /
\ / H O U N D \/
\ / : ________
\ / p r e s e n t s .. .:. ... \ /
\/ : \ /
, \ /
\/
Artist......: Gwenno
Album.......: Utopia
Label.......: Heavenly Recordings
Genre.......: Indie
Catnr.......: HVNLP234CD
Source......: CD
Rip.date....: 2025-11-30
Str.date....: 2025-07-11
Quality.....: 831 kbps avg / 44.1kHz / 2 channels
Url.........: http://www.gwenno.info
________ ________
\ / \ /
\ / \ /
\ / # title time \ /
\/ \/
1. London 1757 4:35
2. Dancing On Volcanoes 5:04
3. Utopia 5:08
4. Y Gath 4:05
5. War 4:50
6. 73 4:18
7. The Devil 4:38
8. Ghost Of You 4:41
9. St Ives New School 5:47
10. Hireth 4:02
______
\ / ________ Runtime 47:08
,\ /... . . .... .... \ / ' Size 294.53______
:\/ ', \ / , \ /
' '... ..\ /.. .. .....:. .. .... .. . ..\ /.
: Release Notes: \/ , \/ ,
' '
,: Gwenno's new album Utopia is one of those records in an artist's :,
: career that acts as a milestone, a waypoint between the journey :
:' behind and the journey ahead, and it is achingly beautiful. It ':
,: is replete with musical vignettes of a life lived with its title :,
: being named partly in honour of her time in Las Vegas starring :
:' in Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance. Every weekend the cast ':
,: would go clubbing: "every? Saturday we'd go to this techno club :,
: called Utopia and just get completely spangled until Monday, :
:' when we had to go back to work." ':
,: :,
: Las Vegas to Europe then London saw a nocturnal Gwenno Saunders :
:' inhabiting the bars of Dalston while attempting to make club ':
,: hits, going to auditions from adverts in The Stage magazine :,
: before joining and recording two albums with Brighton band The :
:' Pipettes. Post-hedonism, and feeling the nihilism of her London ':
,: years, she moved back to Wales, "I think so much about going :,
: back to Wales was finding the root of something again, and not :
:' retreating as much as healing, and reviving, and digging the ':
,: earth, and turning it over. I just creatively needed to go back :,
: to the start." :
:' ':
,: This second act of Gwenno's life brought a run of incredible :,
: music: Y Dydd Olaf (inspired by Owain Owain's 1976 novel The :
:' Last Day), Le Kov (written entirely in Cornish), and the ':
,: pinnacle of this triumvirate Tresor; albums where the beauty of :,
: language, when coming from Gwenno's warm zephyr of a voice, is :
:' mixed with the gentle pulse of electronic and organic ':
,: instruments making for a beguiling combination. :,
: :
:' And now we arrive in Utopia, the starting point of which was ':
,: not electronic, as with previous releases, but the piano (apart :,
: from 'Hireth' which started out on the harp). Maybe it is this :
:' organic beginning that so suits the intimacy and ':
,: self-reflection of the songs. Synthesisers and electronics can :,
: generate mood and rhythm for inspiration but the act of sitting :
:' in front of a keyboard would explain why Utopia feels so ':
,: personal. It moves effortlessly between the many phases of her :,
: life, from past decadence ceding to parenthood on 'Dancing on :
:' Volcanoes', to the move from London (where she had family ':
,: connections) back to Wales on '73'. Gwenno says, :,
: :
:' "I feel as if I've written a debut record, because it's a ':
,: different language and it's a different part of my life," she :,
: says. "It's about that point where I go out into the world on my :
:' own, which people generally write about first, and then get on ':
,: with their lives. But it's taken me so long to digest it - I :,
: needed 20 years just to make sense of things, and I realised the :
:' starting point of my creative life isn't Wales, it's actually ':
,: North America."? :,
: :
:' This more human aspect was also reflected in the recording ':
,: process where everything was captured in Gwenno's living room :,
: with a full band. This gives the live quality that the The :
:' Wrecking Crew brought to so many classic songs. Utopia has that ':
,: same dampened bass sound which rarely stays on the root for too :,
: long, some inspired guitar playing reminiscent of the wonderful :
:' phrasing of Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon, and keyboards that ':
,: provide taffeta swish as well as lush strings. There is also the :,
: tingle of harp and drums that anchor everything becoming the :
:' beating heart of the album. She says that these songs that ':
,: perhaps "can't be made by a machineàonly be made by human :,
: experience," giving them "a far more potent value." :
:' ':
,: This feels as much a photographic album and a musical one. A :,
: trip through her life that could easily work as performance with :
:' stories ('An Evening with Gwenno' anyone?). There is a touch of ':
,: Las Vegas glitter and Hollywood glamour woven in, Astaire and :,
: Rogers dancing on that volcano, the descent down a massive :
:' staircase to 'Ghost of You', the 'On Broadway' bounce of 'The ':
,: Devil' through to the title track which seems to fit perfectly :,
: with the wee small hours when the rat pack have loosened their :
:' bowties and everyone is warmly slurring into their breakfast ':
,: martinis. It is also 'Utopia' that has one of the album's :,
: highlights: the profoundly exquisite moment when the verse has :
:' the most beatific ascent into the chorus. Heady stuff. ':
,: :,
: Viva Gwenno! She now belongs to an exclusive group of musicians :
:' who can be identified with a mononym: Madonna, Prince, Cher, ':
,: and Bj÷rk and she has the talent to match (although how many on :,
: that list can say they are trilingual?). She could spellbind a :
:' folk club if the songs were stripped back to just piano and ':
,: voice, or she could dazzle a mainstage audience at Glastonbury :,
: with a full band line-up and Vegas-bright lighting. This is an :
:' intoxicating musical autobiography which draws you in like an ':
,: old friend visiting to share stories of the past while :,
: celebrating how perfect it is in the present. I'll leave the :
:' last word to her, ':
,: :,
: "You get to this point and you go 'God, that quarter of a :
:' century went fast.' But I want to acknowledge it, and respect ':
,: it and say, for better or worse, all of that happened." (Paul F :,
: Cook/Joyzine) :
:' ':
: '
'.. ..'
.. . :........... . . . . ............: . .
______________ ______________
\ / \ /
\ / GREETS: \ /
\ / \ /
\ / iPC BOSS HiT2000 1way UKi i8 RNS \ /
\ / MANDY DV8 pLAN9 BUTT \ /
\ / \ /
\/ ____ ____ \/
\ / H O U N D \ /
\/ \/