Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Inspiration should never be planned or deliberate, it should strike at the mind and soul as a gift from a Muse, it should present itself as one finds themselves suddenly greeted by the sight of clear, drinkable water after a slog through the desert with only mirages and apparitions for company.

It is the fundamental belief in improvisation, the ability to write in Stream of Conscious, to be inspired by the sudden a d rapid rather than the drawn out and deliberate; this is the inspiration that can put a fire under the walking leather and lead to an undiscovered greatness, and one to which Filkin’s Drift combine their committed 870 mile walking tour of the Wales coastal path, whilst in addition performing 53 gigs in a mind boggling 58 days.

Glan is the product of the inspiration, the traditional melody reimagined, and one drawn on the various landscapes and the surrounding waters that hold the imagination close.

For Seth Bye and Chris Roberts this album is of an appreciation, it is the culmination of the journey from start to finish, it engages the listener with sounds that exemplify the footsteps and the missteps, the alluring dawn and the dusk which captivates, and each moment feels as though the excursion is more of a voyage on land, an homage perhaps to a modern pleasure derived from The Canterbury Tales, as each song derives its own character and performs to the heart of the crowd.

Across tracks such as Adar Mân y Mynydd, Hiraeth, Clay, Nature and Us, My Pretty Little Highland Mary, Touchpaper/The Gloucester Hornpipe, and the passionate finale of The Water Is Wide, Filkin’s Drift’s Glan is a reminder of the beauty at our own doorsteps, the visions we can see if we are able to take our heads out of the grind of other’s expectations and instead just take a moment to see the world, our surroundings for they beauty they can inspire.

To find space in which to roam is a right we should all be fighting for, but we must also find the time to place our heart into the vision and landscapes we see on our journey, we must place our thoughts with respect into how we describe the scenes before us; and as Filkin’s Drift does so elegantly, it must be with sincerity that we retell our stories onwards.

An album of deliberation and authenticity, a sense of beauty in the chaos of our own making.

Filkin’s Drift release Glan on April 4th 2025.

Ian D. Hall