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Aug 03, 2015 By Christopher Roberts Gwenno

Y Dydd Olaf, the debut solo album from Gwenno Saunders (released simply under her first name), got a proper full-on release last Friday via Heavenly Recordings after an initial sold-out very limited release last fall. Last Friday she also shared the album track “Golau Arall” (check it out here) and today she has shared an Andrew Weatherall remix of album opener “Chwyldro.” Weatherall is a fairly legendary British DJ, producer, electronic musician, and remixer. He co-produced Primal Scream’s classic 1991 album, Screamadelica, for example, and has remixed the likes of Björk, My Bloody Valentine, and New Order, as well as recording his own music.

Weatherall’s take on “Chwyldro” maintains a somewhat similar structure to the original, but stretches out the song an extra minute to 6:29, buries the vocals in a distant sounding filter, and adds in extra beats. I personally much prefer remixes that keep the basic flow of the song the same, but add extra layers and flourishes, rather than ones that cut up and re-paste a song in frustrating and annoying ways, so this one hits the remix sweet spot for me. Check it out below.

Saunders was previously best known as a member of the retro-sounding girl group The Pipettes (which also featured Rose Elinor Dougall), but Y Dydd Olaf sounds very little like that fun pop group. Firstly almost all of it is sung in Saunders’ native Welsh language (except for one song sung in the even more obscure Cornish language). Secondly, an obscure 1970s Welsh sci-fi novel that shares the album’s title and was written by Owain Owain inspired the album. Finally, musically we’re talking a blissed out Krautrock vibe, with reference points that include 1960s electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire (responsible for arranging the Doctor Who theme), Broadcast, and Stereolab. But it’s not as heavy as it sounds, Y Dydd Olaf is still a fully enjoyable record and you barely notice that the lyrics are in a foreign language.