GRUFF RHYS & BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF WALES / H. HAWKLINE | LIVE REVIEW
Festival Of Voice, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Sun 10 June
Another year, another major project from Gruff Rhys, who continues to push himself to innovate and overachieve. From linking up with Welsh speakers in Patagonia for his Separado! project to the sheer magic of Candylion as a family musical, Rhys is an artist for whom simply banging out a solo record and hitting the road just doesn’t seem to cut it. This year’s major project is a collaborative one which sees him working alongside the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales to create a lush backing for a collection of songs, in Babelsberg, which rank among the best work of his career.
H. Hawkline opens the show, his delicate vocals and dry humour winning over a gradually filling room, as he plays his way through tracks from 2017’s I Romanticize. His simple approach, playing alone on his guitar or keyboard, provides a point of contrast for Rhys’ more-is-more approach.
A sellout audience in the WMC’s Donald Gordon Theatre, are then treated to Babelsberg in full, preceded by what Rhys terms an encore with his band (“because it wouldn’t have felt right playing this stuff after a massive orchestra had been onstage”). The first part of the set, then, is a collection of highlights from previous albums, of which the bonkers Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru is a standout, reaching a crescendo which sees drummer Kliph Scurlock hammering his kit in a fashion that’s highly unlikely to be repeated in this revered opera hall anytime soon.
Following a brief intermission, the orchestra take the stage and play out a Morricone-esque instrumental introduction for the reintroduction of Rhys and band. There follows a straight run-through of Babelsberg, with the orchestra creating a seamless backing for Rhys’ delicate songs. He truly seems to have perfected his art on this record, with songs like Negative Vibes feeling as though they’ve been around forever and raising the roof of this grand hall. A standing ovation is well earned.
words and photos HUGH RUSSELL
