Live Review: Gwenno

Cardiff musician Gwenno (Saunders) presents an unassuming, almost apologetic, presence through her on stage banter. 

Last year she delivered one of 2015’s most memorable albums in Y Dydd Olaf but despite all the acclaim back home, it was mostly filed under ‘to hard to pronounce’ outside Britain. Performing at The Toff under the Melbourne Festival umbrella, it’s hard to imagine any other way that this former pop star (she was in Pipettes back in the day) with just one solo recording of electronica sung in Welsh and Cornish could have ever made her way to an audience here. Saunders' artistry is so niche she is the quintessential arts festival guest.

The live setting is simple: just Saunders on keyboards and partner Rhys Edwards on guitar and four-track. A lo-fi mix of darkly animated graphics are all that’s required in the way of stage design. The pair work their way through the album during a short, but very satisfying, set.

Given that most in attendance had little understanding of Saunders’ lyrics, her in-between song chatter is dominated with translations. She refers to the Welsh and Cornish used in her songs as “minority languages” (indeed, so “minority" that she notes that she is yet to be heckled at a gig in Cornish), and so takes delight in enlightening us as to the meaning of her songs.

With the album seemingly rooted in the whimsy of folktronica, it was a little unexpected to discover the songs are about technology, the lessons of history and the deathly march of time - the album was inspired by a ‘70s sci-fi novel about clones - and not a collection of pastoral pop.

Despite now knowing that the beautifully stark Chwyldro contemplates the pain of revolution (the song title literally translates as ‘Revolution’) it is still the sweetest sound of the night. But in this new context, on this night an underlying, post-industrial musical motif can be detected in the wiry guitar sounds Edwards supplies to the album's songs.

Tonight too, we witness Saunders' hushed and airy vocal styling strike an even more compelling note on stage. Her voice an ideal vessel for both keeping these languages alive and issuing a cultural warning.