Gwenno

Her first album recorded predominantly in English, these songs range from floor-fillers to piano ballads, encompassing contributions from Cate Le Bon & H Hawkline.

Her first album recorded predominantly in English, these songs range from floor-fillers to piano ballads, encompassing contributions from Cate Le Bon & H Hawkline. Long before she would become an acclaimed solo songwriter in both Welsh & Cornish, a winner of the Welsh Music Prize, a nominee for the Mercury & a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh, there were the days of Nevada, London, Brighton (as the singer in The Pipettes); of Irish dancing, techno clubs, messiness & chaos. 'Utopia', Gwenno Saunders’ fourth solo album, is an exploration of all of these selves.

If the singer regards her first three solo records — 2014’s 'Y Dydd Olaf', 2018’s 'Le Kov' and 2022’s 'Tresor' as “childhood records”, rooted in her upbringing, her parents, her formative identity, then 'Utopia' captures a time of self-determination and experimentation. These are songs of discovery, of the years between being someone’s daughter and becoming someone’s wife and someone’s mother.

It is her finest work to date.

For Fans Of: St.Etienne | Jane Weaver | Cassandra Jenkins | Cate Le Bon | Lael Neale | Vanishing Twin | Iraina Mancini