Periodically, Welsh folk music stages an incursion across Offa’s Dyke into England. It’s always welcome here and this seems to have been a particularly fruitful year. Eve Goodman is relatively well known but SERA may need some introduction. She is multi-instrumentalist Sarah Louise Sarnacki Owen and when I say multi I mean multi. Actually Eve is pretty multi herself and both Eve and SERA are big on percussion which helps to inform their music, making its debut on Natur. The duo are supported by co-producer Colin Bass on guitars and synth and Gwyndaf Williams on pedal steel (used very delicately).
The album is attractively packaged but there is barely a word of English on it and as I’m only a semi-Welshman, I struggle a bit. All the music is original and is rooted in the cyclic elements of nature and women and the opener, ‘Bendith’, is a blessing built on the drone of a shruti box and which sets the scene nicely. I gather that the second track, the funky ‘Anian’, is, in contrast, about the pressures of modern life. So let us learn what we can from the titles.
‘Llinyn Glas’ may be about a lake in Snowdonia which would make sense. Released as a single, ‘Cwlwm Cariad’ is a medley of three love songs and ‘Tangnefedd’ means, roughly, peace or tranquility. ‘ Blodyn Gwyllt’, another funky track, means wild flower and ‘Tymhorau’ is seasons. ‘Gaeafgwsg’ means hibernation but sadly, ‘Rhwng Y Coed’ and ‘Wead Y We’ have defied my attempts at direct translation, although rhwng is a word which, like hiraeth, does not translate easily,
So you see my dilemma. Natur is a lovely record to sit back and listen to – two gorgeous voices and atmospheric arrangements that seem to draw on tradition while being decidedly modern. I’ve longed believed that language shouldn’t matter but – and I’m afraid it’s a big but – artists working in other languages and who wish to break into the English market have to meet us at least a quarter of the way.
Dai Jeffries
Artists’ websites: www.evegoodmanmusic.com / www.serasongs.com
‘Blodyn Gwyllt’ – official video:
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