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Jan 16, 2018 Gwenno By Christopher Roberts

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Welsh musician Gwenno (full name Gwenno Saunders) is releasing her sophomore album, Le Kov, on March 3 via Heavenly Recordings. Now she has shared a video for its first single, “Tir Ha Mor.” The album is sung in Cornish, a somewhat lost language native to the United Kingdom and spoken by few. “Tir Ha Mor” translates to “land and sea.” The colorful video features Gwenno singing and dancing with various psychedelic textures. Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art.

Gwenno had this to say about video in a press release: “We drove to St Ives and marvelled at the crashing waves, went up the coast, past Zennor and arrived at Levant Mine to pause for thought and remember those who had given and lost so much to the land. All we could do was appreciate the rugged landscape, as so many had done before us. We drove back to Cardiff and I mulled over the merits of dancing to your own song, and concluded that it’s alright to do so sometimes. Cornish Abstract Landscape artist, Peter Lanyon, Marghek an Gwyns (Rider of the Wind, his Cornish Gorsedd bardic name) glided over the land to get a better feel of Cornwall, and Tir Ha Mor (Land and Sea) is inspired by his methods and muse. I filmed what was in front of me, which is nowhere near the same level of commitment, but it is my interpretation of what I saw and felt and that, I hope, is worth something.”

Le Kov is the follow-up to Y Dydd Olaf, Gwenno’s debut solo album that initially got a sold-out very limited release in 2014, before getting a proper full-on release by Heavenly in 2015. A press release sites Broadcast, The United States of America, White Noise, and Serge Gainsbourg as influences on Le Kov. Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys contributes guest vocals to “Daromres Y’n Howl.”

Gwenno had this to say about Le Kov in a press release: “This album is a combination of accepting the culture which your parents have valued enough to want to pass on to you, regardless how small, and utilizing it in a positive way to try and make sense of the world around you, it’s also about having to accept and respect the nuances that make us all different and discovering that all of our stories share the same truth.”

Gwenno was previously best known as a member of the retro-sounding girl group The Pipettes (which also featured Rose Elinor Dougall).

Le Kov Tracklist:

1. Hi a Skoellyas Liv a Dhagrow
2. Tir Ha Mor
3. Herdhya
4. Eus Keus
5. Jynn-Amontya
6. Den Heb Taves
7. Daromres y’n Howl
8. Aremorika
9. Hunros
10. Koweth Ker

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