Navigator Records (label)
23 July 2016 (released)
23 July 2016
From the Teardrop Explodesque surreal-mysticism of H.Hawkline to psyche-loner Cate Le Bon, ex-Race Horse Meliyr Jones to Snowdonia’s Yucatan. And now (one-time Manics accomplice) Georgia Ruth returns with a follow up to 2013’s Welsh Music Prize winning Week of Pines - her critically acclaimed, bilingual debut.
It is a given that when adjectivising Welsh bands to deploy labels like ‘bucolic’, ‘ethereal’ and ‘melodic’ which albeit at times is lazy (guilty) it is nevertheless a truism that the mountainous terrain and expansive environment imbue and inform the art and message in a manner similar to Pulp’s tales of (sub)urbania or Dizzee Rascal’s ‘street-slang-sonics’.
From Merthyr Tydfil rock-titans Man to lysergic pranksters Super Furry Animals the country consistently produces acts that enlighten, educate and enliven the self. Effortlessly.
This artisan of atmos-folkric arias is far removed from your average all-singing, all-dancing, ‘look-at-me talent-show aspiring throw enough spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks’ attention seeker who’s doing it for their dog. Or Nana. Both still alive.
Ruth’s ‘The Doldrums’ has vocal echoes of Dory Previn and halfway through the song it detours into an Abbey Roadish chop-changing interlude. Elegiac and dolorous, the chimes of the climes echo throughout. This must be the place (native melody).
As the football team showed in the Euros this is the time of the Welsh rarebit. The moment of Ruth is now.
The Doldrums is streaming at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnVxsYr7OJY
The album Fossil Scale arrives in October.
