GWENNO: EDRICA | LIVE REVIEW
Festival Of Voice, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Fri 15 June
Modern psych-pop pioneer Gwenno Saunders has created a one-off performance piece that celebrates the life and work of patchwork artist and poet Edrica Huws. The night explores Edrica’s work through electronica, dreamy vocals, projections and experimental noisescapes.
Gwenno has really cemented her electronic sound through her last two albums Y Dydd Olaf and Le Kov. Edrica picks up and carries the same music themes she has explored within those albums with a very loose feel. What Gwenno is great at is taking a little-known language or theme and packaging it in an accessible way to start a deeper discussion; this performance really tries to introduce Edrica’s work and encourages you to explore it further. The charm of the piece really carries the performance throughout the hour-long set – harp and violin accompaniments pull you back to the time when Edrica Huws was alive and, surprisingly, it blends well with the synth-scape that drives the performance.
The lo-fi animated projections by Ted Davies feel like they tie the whole performance together, allowing you to be exported into a love letter written in an artist sketchbook. One highlight of the night comes when Gwenno dons a cat mask, embodying the playfulness of a feline to perform a beautifully bright song. Little joyful moments like this are scattered throughout the performance and really lift the audience’s enjoyment.
As a standalone performance intended to celebrate another artist, tonight was full of love and artistic respect. It was a real privilege to be able to experience the performance; a testament to the idea of one artist celebrating the work of another through their own eyes.
words JAYDON MARTIN photos SIMON AYRE