This Friday, 11th July, Gwenno releases her hugely anticipated and already highly acclaimed new album Utopia via Heavenly Recordings. Following the singles ‘Dancing On Volcanoes, ‘War’ and ‘Y Gath’, today Gwenno shares a ravishing video for the album’s gorgeous and dreamlike title track.
‘Utopia’ paints a picture of someone living their life against the rapidly fading colours of Las Vegas. That story is sung over an ever-evolving groove that sounds like a Philly Soul band taking Moon Safari on an exciting new journey into the cosmos.
The accompanying video, shot “Casino”-style on location in Las Vegas by Claire Marie Bailey.
• WATCH THE VIDEO FOR ‘UTOPIA’ • PRE-SAVE THE ALBUM AND STREAM THE ALBUM SINGLES •
Early acclaim for ‘Utopia:’
“An expansive, cinematic record. Now singing mostly in English as she reconnects with her piano-based songwriting, her naturalistic voice is a relaxed conduit to elegantly detailed songs.”
-MOJO ★★★★ –
“An eclectic yet assured record that sounds like someone taking stock but using that solid foundation as a springboard to leap forward musically. ‘Dancing On Volcanoes’ is melodic and infectious while tracks like ‘War’ are sparse, moody and dripping in eerie atmosphere.”
-UNCUT ★★★★ –
“Lush, textured and cinematic, this is Gwenno’s best record by some distance.”
– NARC – 9/10 –
“Utopia is a rich meditation on memory and the places we find ourselves returning to in our heads.”
– Buzz Magazine ★★★★ –
“With lyrics recalling her adolescence spent in London, Las Vegas, Brighton and Cardiff, Utopia is an altogether more urban album, recounting experiences of nightclubs and bus rides and thrumming streets…With rich strings, choppy, staccato basslines, and spindly guitar, there’s an earthiness to Utopia that contrasts with the gleaming mysticism of the Mercury- shortlisted Tresor.”
– The Skinny ★★★★ –
“Utopia isn’t so much a reinvention for Gwenno, despite the change of language. Instead, it’s an evolution of her sound, and feels like a reflective journey through memory and identity. It makes for an excellent reintroduction to an artist who proves that her music knows no boundaries, be that linguistic or otherwise.”
– Music OMH ★★★★ –
“On her fourth album, Gwenno channels all of her rich, wild and wonderful life experiences into a triumphant new avenue of songwriting.”
-Aesthetica Magazine –
“Each one of these 10 four-minute plus songs captures a little fragment, veering from woozy electronica to the kind of hushed starstruck pop in which Saint Etienne specialise.”
– Shindig! Magazine –
“Matching 2022’s Mercury Prize–nominated Tresor would be no mean feat. But with a silky-smooth caramel nostalgia reminiscent of 2000s indie, combined with dreamy Portishead soundscapes, Gwenno’s latest endeavour broaches exciting new territory.”
– The Quietus –
★ READ MORE ABOUT ‘UTOPIA’ ★ ‘UTOPIA’ TRACK-LIST ★
★ PRE-ORDER ‘UTOPIA ON VINYL AND CD ★ DINKED EDITION ★
Gwenno has also announced news of a UK tour in the Autumn as well as a week of in-store appearances around the release of the album. For the in-store shows Gwenno will play a solo piano set that previews material from her upcoming trilingual album ‘Utopia‘ – an album of discovery that documents the years between being “someone’s daughter, someone’s wife and someone’s mother”. Those songs will be joined on the day by a few handpicked classics from her previous releases ‘Y Dydd Olaf’, ‘Le Kov’ and ‘Tresor.’
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