Ou est la bibliotheque?
After four years of teaching me, I’m sure that my high school French teacher would despair that pretty much all I can remember from her lessons is how to ask for directions to the library, bakery or discotheque. Sadly on my trips to France since I’ve never actually had need to utilise any of those phrases, but if I did use them on a French speaker around Headingley it may result in me being directed towards Hyde Park Book Club, a fitting venue to enjoy Adwaith, the country’s leading band who sing entirely Welsh. Having grown up in Scotland this meant my school offered no Welsh teaching whatsoever for me to forget, giving the intriguing situation of going to a gig where I wouldn’t be able to understand a word sung by the headliners.
Before Adwaith though was local singer Sam Brockett, giving a stripped down performance with her regular band reduced to a solitary backing guitarist for the evening. Her haunting vocals managing to enchant the rapidly forming crowd and prove yet again why it’s always worth turning up early for to see the support act.
To label Adwaith as simply being indie pop doesn’t do them justice at all, with various conflicting musical themes somehow harnessed together, whether it be tribalistic rumblings, middle eastern flourishes, electronica or disco baselines. For a brief moment opener Planed hinted at the darker side of The Holy Bible from Welsh compatriots Manic Street Preachers. And all of this topped with the the aforementioned Celtic singing, lending an almost ritualistic feel to proceedings.
Which leads into the discussion of how important is being able to understand the lyrics being sung to understand what an artist is trying to put across? It’s undeniable that getting a lyrical hook right will enhance the music around it and bring a song to life, giving the listener the opportunity to cling to a specific moment in a song. Presumably knowing that the vast majority of their audiences won’t understand what is being sung, Adwaith instead used their vocals to create an atmosphere that the listener were free to interpret however they chose. Whilst the intricacies of the story may have been lost to the average listener, the picture remained colourful and capable of creating emotion.
After an energetic hour’s main set of most of recent double album Solas there was time for a final encore of ETO* before leaving the stage to rapturous applause. Not only was it a fantastic evening of music but I learnt that the Welsh for Million is Miliwn meaning I came away knowing my first word of a previously unlearnt language, almost catching up with what Mrs Reid passed on to me over the course of all those classes years ago.
* Seeing as I’ve already mentioned the Manics I’ll throw in the fun fact that ETO was the only song to have made both Nicky Wire’s and James Dean Bradfield’s best songs of 2022 lists.
Adwaith performed:
Planed
Mwy
Tristwch
Gofyn
Solas
Teimlo
Pelydr-X
Wyt Ti Ar Y Lein
Heddiw / Yfory
Y Diwedd
Coeden Anniben
Purdan
Y Ddawns
Miliwn
Addo
Deffro
***
ETO
Alex Reviews Gigs 
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