Scanned Reviews
2009 Studio album, the bright young folk review
This album is something of a curious gem – a collection of traditional Welsh songs (sung in entirely in Welsh) with a modern backing. The more traditional harmonium and harp and mesh effortlessly with xylophone, the occasional flourish of moody electronics, shifting bass lines and the atmospheric chiming and squawking of electric guitar. Weaving through it all is the soft and beguiling voice of Lisa Jen Brown.
Live, she cheerfully explains the premise of the songs but on the CD we are afforded no such helping hand. The enigmatic sleeve has only the minimum amount of information, all of which is useless if you don’t read Welsh. In practice this is less irksome than you might imagine, as if encourages you to loose yourself in the songs, which is easy and doing so is a pleasure.
One of the songs I was able to find a little more about is Yr Eneth Gadd Ei Gwrthod (in English: The Rejected Maiden). It’s the true story of the mysterious death of Jane Williams, a young woman of seemingly irreproachable character who was found dead in the river Dee in 1868. She was spurned by her lover and fell into a depression as you might expect but was found dead after her mood lifted and she was back on friendly terms with her beau.
The next track Llongau Caernarfon (The Ships of Caernarfon) is a much sadder song, which gets it’s beauty from its simple arrangement.
Things speed up for Gwydr Glas (Blue Glass) with it’s mesmeric harp line and the album closes with Lisa Lân, which is a fine summary of what the band are about. Over the course of seven and a half minutes it starts off delicately, gets positively rousing in a middle, before gently ebbing away like the tide at the end.
I have to confess I am almost completely ignorant of the young Welsh folk scene and so far my efforts to find out have met with limited success. However, it’s unlikely that 9Bach are typical of anything in particular because they dare to develop their own personality outside of any market in particular. In doing so, they have succeed spectacularly and have created an album of rare beauty.
Christopher
The Music Fix Review
The Music Fix first became aware of the exquisite 9Bach when they accompanied Gruff Rhys on the madcapCandylion tour. Since then we’ve eagerly scoured listings and release schedules hoping to chance upon them again but, until now, they’ve been exceptionally elusive. I know that tradition dictates that you should always leave an audience wanting more but this was getting ridiculous. All of a sudden and 9Bach are everywhere, a GreenMan set last week, an album through the letterbox this week and a Cardiff date next week; it never rains but it pours.
Not that we’re complaining you understand. Now, I have to tell you, listening to the album is a fundamentally different experience to catching 9Bach live and to a certain extent I feel that I’m out of my depth. Look, I’m a Cardiff boy, I’m proud to visit the Millennium Stadium and cheer on Gareth Bale as he nips down the wing but I just can’t speak Welsh. This is rarely a significant disadvantage but today I’m at a bit of a loss. When you see the band live Lisa Jen will give the audience some verbal crib notes before performing a song but here, I’m on my own. I’ll do my best…
Fortunately I can recall a few things from last week’s festival set and can confidently tell you that opening track Bwthyn fy Nain is a traditional Welsh folk tale about an old woman who has lived her entire life on a quiet mountainside, tending her pgs and sheep and in blissful ignorance of the horrors of war, terrorism and hate which beleaguer the rest of the world. A song which yearns, I suppose, for the freedom to escape the artificial, man made problems of the world. It is beautifully recorded with a simple arrangement which nevertheless veers away from the traditional welsh folk approach and instead gives the music space to breathe and resonate, resulting in a sound as warm and organic as that of the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions. They didn’t have a xylophone solo though so extra points to 9Bach there.
The arrangement of Mae Nhw’n Dwedyd provides the first real surprise of the album as it is more Portishead than Planxty. This underlines the determined 9Bach manifesto to make these ancient folk songs accessible to a contemporary audience. They may be delivered in their original tongue but there’s really nothing to scare the non-native Welsh speaker from engaging with 9Bach. Just listen to the heartbreaking yearning in Lisa’s harmonium accompanied voice as she delivers Llongau Caernarfon and you instantly know this is a song of loss, you don’t need to know that she’s scouring the horizon for he long-lost sailor husband in order to connect. The language ought to be no more a barrier than the Northumbrian dialect of The Unthanks would be to appreciating their traditional tunes.
Pontypridd is perhaps the most ‘traditional’ folk performance of the set and comes complete with some enchanting arpeggios and lilting melodies from Esyllt Jones’ harp. This arrangement contrasts perfectly with the bass heavy Pa Bryd y Deui Eto which tips a nod to the Super Furries. Closing track Lisa Lan is also notable for it’s bass lines which recall those of Pentangle’s Danny Thompson, carrying Lisa’s spellbinding vocals along with them before finally cutting them loose and allowing them to fade out into the ether. The perfect album for all those long, dark winter nights ahead of us. Highly recommended.
