ADERYN

Playground by south Wales solo sort Aderyn, a digital single released through Clwb Music, claims to address her breakup with a “rich boy” who thinks himself “god’s gift” and wants to “play the field” among other disagreeable attributes. That matters transpired in such a timeless way must have surely helped Aderyn set these lyrics to music that falls somewhere between Weezer and Katy Perry, or at least passingly reminded me of both those acts. Its video was filmed at Barry Island (by Buzz photographer Hannah Nicolson-Tottle, indeed) but the song was recorded in LA, and sounds like it.

BURUM

Arguably operating in a field of one, Burum has fused left-of-centre jazz and Welsh folk for about 15 years, and not only have they become more interesting with each release, their latest album Eneidiau impresses me more with every listen. The addition of Patrick Rimes to the ensemble has offered a new angle: credited with “various whistles” and, especially, bagpipes, he brings a more broadly Celtic air to pieces otherwise coloured by Tomos Williams’ gossamer trumpet, Aidan Thorne’s inscrutable bass plucks and Dave Jones’ piano ripples, to name a few elements. Trad French and Jewish melodies also crop up, with the influence of Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett – both already in Burum’s DNA, I fancy – cited to boot. Recommended!

CHROMA

The history of bilingual Welsh rock bands tends to relate that if they choose to pursue one path at any point, it means singing predominantly or exclusively in English – but this two-song single, released via Libertino, by Pontypridd’s Chroma, suggests they’re going in the opposite direction. Fair play! Weithiau is a bit of a departure from how I remember them a few years ago, with a neat fuzzy 90s alt sound (crafted without any guitar, if I’m reading this right) and big lungy vocals about a flatlining relationship courtesy of Katie Hall. Caru. Cyffuriau is more of a revert to type, buzzband garage rock in the style of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

DEAD METHOD

“I’m the twink on the TV / Shove it in my face so I know my place.” Can… can he SAY that? You betcha, buddy! “That” being a lyric from Future Femme, the second album by Lloyd Best aka Cardiff electropop balladeer Dead Method. It builds on both the lyrical and musical content of his debut, 2020’s Queer Genesis, essentially his introduction to the world as an aspiring LGBTQ pop icon. This time, Best gives the impression of being more emotionally extreme in every direction, while the 12 songs – produced by Edward Russell – bounce, stylistically, between the 80s British synthpop top table and Gaga-ish theatre-pop barnstormers. A general sense that these songs are written with a specific community in mind are underlined by the penultimate Community, which appears directed at a single person from it.

HIDDEN SHACKLES

This band from “south-west Wales”, in their words, were new to me when they got in touch at the suggestion of one of our reviewers, although they did release an EP in 2020. I’m glad they did because I’m rather fond of their new single White Collar Lies, whose lyrics take an anti-capitalist stance soundtracked by punky blues-rock that’s variously big-riffing and bassline-led (the drummer’s cowbell bopping should probably be mentioned too, to give everyone their due if nothing else). Jessie Frost’s vocals are Hidden Shackles’ strongest asset for my money, big soulful hollers from the Janis Joplin or Beth Ditto school.

LAURA EVANS

Evans, a purveyor of accessible blues-infused country-rock, hails from Aberdare (though I think lives in London nowadays), and has made a pretty good name for herself via some TV and film soundtrack spots, a stint polishing her craft in Nashville and linkups with some experienced industry figures. The most formative of these was wisecracking fox puppet Basil Brush, whose TV show Evans acted in before turning to music; for debut album State Of Mind, producer Josiah J Manning – also of the Kris Barras Band – steers her sound in a rockier direction on I’m Alright, Solo (which seems to pay ‘homage’ to the Beatles’ Come Together) and Drag Me Back In.

MARC ROBERTS

As Zeuk, his longish-running solo incarnation, Marc Roberts has turned in multiple eccentric mystical folk ditties on CDR – the last, Minutes, was reviewed here just a few months ago. Ghost Of Clone, released on the Folk Archive label as Minutes was, is (I believe) his first release under his given name. This is because it’s a companion piece to a book of poems, also titled Ghost Of Clone, yet conversely is his most collaborative release to date. Six tracks feature readings of poetry – not sure if it’s from the book – by what are termed “hallucinatory voices”, to musical backdrops of ambient guitar wash and experimental cello, the latter provided by frequent Zeuk guest performer Jimmy Ottley. Rather unlike Roberts’ other releases, and a successful experiment.

TANGERINECAT

Bit late with this one, Tangerinecat’s Glass having come out just under three months ago, but since I wrote the last of these columns I discovered them (for myself, not in general) at the Cardiff Psych & Noise Fest. Even then, the duo’s music – constructed with pusing synths, vocal loops and a hurdy-gurdy – took a while to warm to, but Eugene Purpurovsky and Paul Chilton’s crypto-goth ethereal folk and death-staring ethno-industrial is pretty addictive. Seems they moved to north Wales last autumn, and that was all the excuse I need to big up this intense, notionally very serious but ultimately stompin’ good fun album – which appears to be called Glass because of the repeated samples of broken glass on it, or vice versa.

TAURUS 1984

A core duo of two Swansea residents, Alastair Jenkins and Bobby Cole, with a bevy of guest vocalists (and horn player Steve Sax, also from Swansea – where some guy got killed and they never solved the case), Taurus 1984’s debut album Modern Romance is released on Outland, a London synthwave label. The graphic design might lead you to assume an appropriate genre exercise in the offing, but in fact this is very keenly observed discofied chart pop with, perhaps unavoidable, echoes of Madonna at the point where she was hitting global superstar status. There might be a bit of Janet Jackson and (Latin) freestyle in there too. Not familiar with (m)any of the singers Taurus 1984 have got in, sorry, but some good pipes can be heard herein.

TEN NO.6

This group have put London as their location on Bandcamp but Cardiff and/or Wales everywhere else, with their latest music being recorded in Grangetown with Frank Naughton; they actually released an album earlier this year that fully evaded me, but I’m charmed by this three-song single on Swansea label SWND. Turning Of The Page is somewhere between junkshop glam and protopunk, with a Quo-dense anchoring riff; vocalist Lizzie Gormley sings “it’s all over now, baby blue” at one point as if she had come up with that phrase herself. Something Better is class too: could be one of those 70s Akron bands that were peers of Devo but on a more hard rock tip.

WYLDERNESS

Wylderness, a six-piece constructed from parts of other spiky Cardiff bands such as Kutosis and Samoans, release second LP Big Plans For A Blue World about four years after their debut, and again via their own Succulent label. That one seemed to get nailed pretty squarely into the shoegaze pigeonhole, which I don’t think suffices for BPFABW, although it could be described using various similar terminology. Guitars – no less than four of Wylderness are guitarists – get layered, textured and complemented with synth and clarinet. Their influences skew American, often meaning contemporary-ish fuzzballs like Deerhunter but most flagrantly (and entertainingly) on YLT vs VU, a sort of ‘answer song’ to The Gift by The Velvet Underground in the style of Yo La Tengo.

words NOEL GARDNER