July sees the release of the debut album from UK band Bisgedi (Welsh for ‘Biscuits’). Bisgedi are made up of Nat White who lives in Box, England and Syd Howells of Swansea, Wales. Nat and Syd have known each other since they were both in Swansea punk band, The Disasters, back in the 1990s. Occasionally their paths have crossed but this is the first time they’ve worked together outside that unit. In the intervening years they recorded and played live, for example at the Glastonbury Festival, Nat with the Oil Experts and Syd with Steveless.
This debut release sees these two artists collaborate and experiment remotely for the first time since the 1990s, and the results are great.
Opener ‘Monsters’ is an anti-capitalist warning that features demented electronica and is drenched in samples relating to religious fanaticism. Nice.
‘Existential Dread’ has lovely squelchy acid house and samples, mixed with Howell’s ever present haunting vocals. A standout track.
‘The Observer’, the shortest track on this opus, is a stark warning to us all about watching the unfolding horrors of war, either with ambivalence or stunned silence. It’s a powerful track filled with dark and eerie electronica. Another standout on this often-unsettling record that doesn’t flinch from the realities of modern life.
‘Deckchair Shuffle, Stricken Vessel’ is another minimalist electronica effort with Howell’s ranting vocals featuring prominently throughout. Guitar also features heavily in this track which provides another interesting layer of texture to their unhinged tale telling.
Final track ‘Tea’ is a monumental 10.20 of austere electronica detailing the undiluted joy of the mundanity of life, mixed in with the all-encompassing pleasure of a good cup of tea.
This whole LP is at times confusing, and the listener can end up feeling slightly discombobulated as to what they had just experienced. I think that is probably ok, as I think Bisgedi as a band want that. They probably find the world around them and beyond as scary and confusing as the rest of us, so this LP really is a reaction to 2025 as we are all experiencing it in real time.
The anti-capitalist and anti-war elements of the band’s oeuvre are very welcome and invoke a primal anarchic feeling in the listener to immediate take up arms and march on the corridors of power. It’s ‘punk’, but it’s cleverly veiled in a complete and utter wonky 44-minute fever dream acid house trip that takes the hand of the listener and doesn’t let go until they are drained and in need of a cup of tea and a biscuit.
Very clever stuff.
Nat is currently the drummer for Motorik Road Trip. Syd will shortly be releasing an album with Alig Fodder of Family Fodder, under the name Fled Astray.
Bisgedi’s debut album is out now on Bandcamp or you can get it on vinyl here.
Bisgedi are: Nat White – Drums, Percussion, 808’s, Samples, Synths, Sequencers | Syd Howells – Vox, Guitar, Samples, Synths, Melodica, Saxophone
Review by Ioan Humphreys
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