Wait for ages for an Ynys album to pop n roll up, and two come along in really quite rapid succession. Like buses. Almost. The eponymously-titled Welsh Music Prize-shortlisted cinematic debut appeared in 2022, now we have Dosbarth Nos (Night Class) coming to us this summer.
Centred around Aberystwyth songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dylan Hughes (ex-Racehorses, Radio Luxembourg), the new album from Welsh-English bi-lingual band Ynys (Island), is unexpectedly huge on energy and fizzing with fresh pop tunes, with that trademark thread of melancholy and sense of the personal woven within its melodic folds.
The first single ‘Aros Amdanat Ti’ (Waiting For You), out today, is a song about friendship and feeling lost. It stakes its claim from the get-go, confidently strides with more drama and energy than previous works. Love the warm, bouncy brass and vocal harmonies, the consistent piano and when that joyful guitar comes in – oh yeah, now we’re on our way. ‘It’s taken some time to develop the confidence to put something as upbeat and pop out there,‘ says Dylan of the single. ‘I suppose lyrically the song reflects that.’
Dosbarth Nos was recorded live over a period of four well-planned days at the picturesque Mwnci Studios in West Wales, as opposed to Ynys created in more sporadic bursts over a longer period as Dylan found his place and confidence. ‘I guess it’s an old rock cliché – going to the Welsh countryside, getting away from the city to record an album,’ he adds. ‘Having played together as a live band for a couple of years now, it felt natural to approach recording this way. We would record two or three songs a day then walk to the village pub, have a pint and put some records on the jukebox – blissful!”
Dosbarth Nos is released via Libertino Records on 12 July.
Live dates:
10 May FOCUS Wales, Wrexham
17 May The Bunkhouse, Swansea
