By coincidence or design, this double-header tour, an excellent snapshot of Welsh musical self-determination, arrives in Scotland on the first anniversary of the referendum. Gwenno Saunders, the former polka-dotted Pipette turned Welsh-language drone druid, politely scolds the audience from behind her Korg keyboard dais, suggesting her home country would have killed for a similar chance at independence. Later, her countryman H Hawkline – AKA Huw Evans – attempts to smooth over any friction between yes and no voters in the crowd by dishing out free Irn-Bru.
It’s all good-natured ribbing, and in keeping with the evening’s atmosphere of affable sonic and philosophical exploration. Saunders, visibly pregnant and winningly glam in a vintage evening dress, sways elegantly as she adds keening, reverb-drenched vocals to the retro-futurist synth soundscapes of her debut album, Y Dydd Olaf. These are protest songs, although attacks on dominant cultural ideologies have rarely sounded so celestial. On the shimmering Patriarchaeth, she expertly creates a multitracked Welsh choir out of her own voice, while the breathy, hypnotic Chwyldro is a call for political revolution that is nagging in all the right ways.
In contrast to Gwenno’s persuasive vibe of Barbarella agitpop, Evans sings in English and sounds a little more down-to-earth. Recreating tracks from his most recent album In the Pink of Condition with a stripped-back trio of guitar, bass and drums smooths off some of the record’s stranger-sounding edges, if not the lyrical ones. The scraggly troubadour narrates urgent, wonky tales of totem poles, spooky dogs and toffee-apple cheeks, delivered with a deceptively throwaway mateyness. The unhurried strut of Everybody’s on the Line braids together a handful of catchy, well-turned riffs, while recent single It’s a Drag – a bizarre but melodious slice of Beatles fan-fiction – is pleasingly baffling. Even in translation, Evans demonstrates that getting a little lost can be fun.
- At Oslo, London on 22 September. Box office: 020-3553 4831. Then touring.
