Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Those New Old Songs…they resonate in ways that beguiles the mind. For those that speak in a different language, where the vocal is coded in mystery to the non-native speaker, it is the universal that explains the words, and the feelings that are unearthed as it sways to the voice is where the listener finds their own explanation of why it captures their heart.

Following the accomplishment and realisation of her third album, Cerdd Dannau, Gwenan Gibbard’s latest release, the sublime and tantalising Hen Ganeuon Newydd, (New Old Songs when translated) is a recollection and celebration of the artist’s home area of the predominantly Welsh speaking area of the Llŷn Peninsula; the simplicity of time, an homage if so felt of a north Wales version of the accompanying music that pervades and accentuates the dramatization of Dylan Thomas’ own muse filled and inspiring Under Milkwood.

We have lost the tight knit community in the rush to be seen as worldly wise, or maybe at least the ability to understand what gives us meaning close to home, and for that we must thank those who maintain the quality of interaction of their own surroundings as they keep some worthy traditions sacrosanct.

New old songs, the memory of passing time and the interpretation of language when it is sung with a quality of evocative passion, and as Hen Ganeuon Newydd glides over the listener’s positive enquiring mind, as it seeps into the muscles of intrigued fascination, what is evident is that even if the words allude you, they still have leave a pleasure within your soul, for it is in the way that Gwenan Gibbard portrays the sentiment that leaves you enamoured, and when coupled with the music, the sense of gratitude is forever persuasive.

With musical contributions from Gwilym Bowen Rhys, Patrick Rimes, and bass and co-producing credit from Alan Wyn Hughes, tracks such as Ffarwel I Bencaenewydd, Dacw Long, Y Morwr Mwyn, Cariad Y Garddwr, and Anni Bach Rwyn Mynd I Ffwrdd shoulder the responsibility of highlighting, not only the wonder of the Welsh Language, but the care required to keep such a beautiful and physical phonological sound alive.

A linguistic treat, a sound of passion and memory, Hen Ganeuon Newydd is the new old music to praise.

Ian D. Hall