Capturing the essence of a geographical area, and a pivotal moment in its history, can be a tricky prospect for a musician. It would be easy to tip into lazy and obvious sloganeering or diluted pastiche of the native sounds thus creating an album that feels more nosey and intrusive than sympathetic and enlightening. It is this very task that Gareth Bonello, aka The Gentle Good, attempts on his latest album Elan which is a portrait of Cwm Elan (the Elan Valley) in Powys, Wales. Featuring songs in both Welsh and English, Elan explores issues of culture, politics and identity through the history and folklore of the valley, which was flooded in the Victorian era to provide drinking water to the city of Birmingham.
Elan was written in an off-grid cottage during a year-long residency in the Cambrian mountains and recorded in Cardiff with musician Andy Fung. It also features guests such as Laura J Martin, Rajasthani folk pioneers SAZ, and guitar virtuoso Toby Hay making this one of Gareth’s most richly layered to date. Elan is described as a psychedelic album and it is that description which is vital to understanding its essence. This is the psychedelia of pastoral guitars and water-flowing arrangements. Songs swirl and flow with not a single sharp edge or harshness to them. We are in the realms of post-Syd early Pink Floyd, Skip Spence and John Martyn where the songs have a haze to them and where the only really clear and decisive sound is Bonello’s wonderfully rich voice which is a welcome constant in an album that feels in constant motion.
One of the many highlights of Elan is Bonello’s take on a traditional melody from Rajasthani, ‘Desert of Wales’. After working with the SAZ (Rajasthani folk band) in 2022, Bonello came back and jammed on the riff before sending it back to SAZ who recorded their vocals in Mumbai. This song is a universal hymn to collaboration and unity. It snakes and intoxicates before bursting into a gallop and leaves you feeling both breathless and uplifted. It reminds of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Dream Brother’ and might be a clue to where Buckley got his melody from as he was also a vocal fan of Asian folk music.
Befitting an album that focuses on the concept of travel, Elan has multiple facets and exciting twists and turns. One minute we are lounging in the psych of ‘Ten Thousand Acres’ when the next we could be in the realm of pop (‘To Be In Summer’) before we again make a swerve, this time into the area of orchestral country (‘Cofiwch Gwm Elan’)..we even get a wonderfully large ELO-like pop song (‘Tachwedd’) which is irresistibly catchy.
Elan is an album that never sits still. It is an album that invokes multiple emotions from sadness to gratitude via sheer joy and once it is over you always want to start the journey all over again. In a career full of highlights, Gareth Bonello has not only created possibly his greatest album to date but has firmly established himself as one of Wales’ most gifted, unique and thoughtful artists. Elan deserves to be hailed as not only a Welsh, but a worldwide folk classic.
The Gentle Good: Website | Instagram (Gareth Bonello) | Facebook
Released through Bubblewrap Collective: Website | Facebook | Instagram
Update to this review. Gentle Good recently added this YouTube film which talks about the writing of the album.
“Written in an off-grid cottage during a year-long residency in the Cambrian Mountains, The Gentle Good’s latest album ‘Elan’ is a psychedelic portrait of Cwm Elan (the Elan Valley) in Powys, Wales. Featuring songs in both Welsh and English, Elan explores issues of culture, politics and identity through the history and folklore of the valley, which was flooded in the Victorian era to provide drinking water to the city of Birmingham. In the summer and autumn of 2024, Gareth returned to the valley to shoot this short film about the making of the album and the landscape and people that inspired it.“
Review by Simon Tucker
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