For St David’s Day today, we’ve chosen a special selection of fine Welsh cuts from the first few months of the year, including returning favourites and emerging artists that have been catching our ears in 2025. Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus.
KEYS – What Flavour
Do you recall that Craig David song where he compared women to different flavours of ice cream, thereby reducing the entire female population of the world into objects for his own potential personal sexual satisfaction and nothing more? And in creating the song in the first place and releasing the damn thing he empowered unenlightened men to follow the same misogynistic path? You do? Me too.
Well, ‘What Flavour’ by KEYS is nothing like that. At all.
Inspired musings over a 99 cone, it starts off playful and as sweet as the treat itself. The lyrical repetition is fun at first, a glitter ball spins, before things take an anxious turn. A jokey query ‘what ice cream is that?’ is FOMO angst wrapped up in an existential crisis.
Oh, and there’s a haunted ice cream van at the very end.
“‘What Flavour?’ began with something my daughter said while staring at the endless choices at an ice cream stand on holiday in Tenby,’ explains KEYS frontman Matthew Evans. ‘We instinctively sang it back to her, and before long, it snowballed into a full-blown song. As it unfolds, the track grows more agitated, from playful indecision into the agony of craving what someone else has. We’d been deep into disco and 99 Records bands at the time, so everything came out upside down.
It doesn’t sound like anything we’ve done before, and that’s exactly why we love it.” (Cath Holland)
The Cheeky Habibis – Being Human
The Cheeky Habibis are fresh meat, only around for about a year, second single ‘Being Human‘ coolly delivered, rhythmic spoken word slipping into sing-song. Being Human possesses a sense of authority to it, much like the best art pop n roll, lots going on but not cluttered, on the contrary; the violin unsettles a little – always a good thing – and the cowbell makes a brief appearance (inset your own joke here).
The band formed in Cardiff only a year ago, the name inspired by the drummer’s Lebanese heritage.
The song is about lead singer Gabriel Lester’s move away from home and the connection between movement and personal growth.
When working with violin player William Dadswell, he described the track as: “a very catchy number with an intricate message behind it” The song’s title ‘Being Human’ is after the TV show of the same name a direct nod to his teenage years growing up in London and watching the show. (Cath Holland)
Breichiau Hir – new album Y Dwylo Uwchben due in April
Cardiff-based Welsh language alternative rock six-piece Breichiau Hir release a second album this spring. Y Dwylo Uwchben (The Hands Above) from the Welsh Music Prize finalists is out in April and the first single from it ‘Cuddio Tu Ôl Y Llen’ (Hiding Behind The Curtain) is available now.
The song is as emotionally concentrated as previous releases – it wouldn’t be Breichiau Hir otherwise – but gives itself more room to contemplate and reflect. Steffan Dafydd’ vocals are as powerful as ever, but within the space and change of pace highlights the light and dark.
The single captures the inner struggle of vulnerability, strength, and the exhaustion that comes with fighting persistent internal and external conflicts. As such, ‘Cuddio Tu Ôl Y Llen’ represents a constant battle—a cycle of strength and weariness, where you might be caught between the desire to fight, or the fear to surrender.
Steffan says: “I wanted to catch the complexities of resilience, where holding on and letting go both feel equally painful. We went away for a week to write our second album, and everything felt completely new, which brought about a sense of change and a new chapter, and that feeling came out in some of the songs, this being one of them.”
“When I started to write lyrics for this song, I wanted it to sound hopeful and positive. The music comes first and the lyrics come second, after I’ve let the mood of each song settle. I tend to write in a flow of consciousness to avoid pushing anything too much and making it feel forced, then I go to edit them to make sure it flows. When it came to looking over this one, I felt that it actually had a bit of that ‘light vs dark’ narrative, but felt uncertain about which side it was on.”
Y Dwylo Uwchben released 11 April 2025 via Halen Records
A special album launch show is planned for 17 April 2025 at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff. (Cath Holland)
Aderyn – Foreverever
Aderyn – aka Lisa Martin the Welsh alt/pop singer-songwriter, recently released her effervescent new single ‘Foreverever’ via Bandcamp with digital distribution by Distrokid.
She describes ‘Foreverever‘ as “a scuzzy yet hooky tune about the rush of committing to forever with somebody.” With bubblegum melodies, playful riffing and a zippy electro-pop sound underscored by lyrics that contemplate the rushing dichotomies of “forever” love, it’s another cracking single from Aderyn.
Of the new single ‘Foreverever’ Lisa says, “Mood swings take me from lamenting consequences, to dancing over them on ‘Foreverever’. With this song, I’m ready to put down the Sylvia Plath novel and fixate on the heady rush of committing to forever.” (Bill Cummings)
Xempa – Here as I stand
‘Here as I stand’ is the emotionally charged and upbeat debut single from exciting new Welsh collective Xempa. Featuring the soulful intensity of The Honest Poet, and joyful playing you can hear the fun they had in the studio writing and recording. A really bubbling stew of soul, blues, funk, 70s jazz and hip hop, it’s a riot of sound, that reminds one of the genius records Stevie Wonder released in his Imperial phase.
They say “Here as I Stand is a declaration of strength, a commitment to self, and a recognition of one’s inner power to move forward, no matter the obstacles.”(Bill Cummings)
Shale – It’s Not Right
Shale are a four-piece from Cardiff consisting of Samuel (vocals & rhythm guitar), Austin (lead guitar & backing vocals), Rohan (bass), and Zach (drums). Inspired by the likes of The Cure, LCD Soundsystem, John Lennon and The Beatles. Last year’s catchy ‘Fuzzy Identities’ has a pleasingly looping earworm melody, that reminds one of the lysergic psych pop of early Stone Roses. While recent single ‘It’s Not Right‘ has a touch of Mcartney and Lennon about its weaving guitar line, yearning melodies and hooks. They say ” at their heart they believe in great pop songs and creating music that people can love.” Even with just three single releases so far, Shale hold rich promise. (Bill Cummings)
L E M F R E C K – Stay Calm
2024 Welsh Music Prize winner L E M F R E C K recently released his new single ‘Stay Calm’. Both insurgent and personally charged, riven with squealing samples and twitchy beats, listen below. L E M F R E C K speaks on the track, “Stay calm is about your environment being on fire and there is nothing you can do about it. It’s the realisation that you can work on yourself as much as you like to but there are just some things you can’t change”.
‘Stay Calm’ follows previous singles ‘Fine’, ‘Slip Away’, and ‘Come Outside En’, all tracks feature on L E M F R E C K’s upcoming EP ‘We’ve Been Here’, due for release on 2 May via The Orchard.
Talulah – Galaru
Last year, Talulah released ‘Solas’ a deftly accomplished and richly drawn self-produced debut EP, that rippled with elements of jazz and neo-soul.
Released on I KA CHING, these bilingual songs is graceful and evocatively drawn. The magical ‘Galaru’ is a standout of her work so far it glows with a warmth and evocative undercurrents. There are whole new realms to discover within her sonic tapestry she manipulates the Welsh language and weaves such beautiful spells, Talulah radiates a meditative wonder and songwriting depths you can swim in. (Bill Cummings)
Nancy Williams – I Don’t Want to Grow Up
Nancy Williams may still be in her teens but she has been carving a place for her work and her voice and rich nascent talent in the last eighteen months,.
The singer-songwriter from Merthyr, “manages to craft lyrics into her songwriting which would make you believe she’s lived a thousand lives” according to revered Irish producer Darren Morrisey who helped Nancy craft her first songs.
In September 2024, Nancy left her family home in Merthyr and moved to London – where she began acting college.
Shortly after moving to the capital, Nancy released her debut song the wonderfully unfurling ‘I Don’t Wanna Grow Up’. A captivating song ripe with the wistfulness of leaving home and moving to a big city, all of the conflicting emotions that throws up for a young woman finding her way in new surroundings.
Her latest ‘ocean’ trembles with the hushed emotive quality of her vocals alongside elegant instrumentals of yearning violins and tumbling acoustics, and a melody that floats downstream through the valleys. Nancy’s debut EP is a ‘coming-of-age” age recording. With songs possessed of a moving and magical quality, Williams is a songwriter of rare quality with a talent that is way beyond her tender years. (Bill Cummings)
