by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

There is a strong feeling around Utopia that this is the record Gwenno has been leading towards in her previous three solo albums.

As if to emphasise the fact she has recorded much of the album in English, a departure from the Cornish and Welsh songs she has been writing to date – as though she needs to communicate her message and feelings more immediately and with greater bandwith.

She regards her first three albums as ‘childhood records’, while Utopia is set to capture ‘a time of self-determination and experimentation’.

What’s the music like?

In a subtle way, Gwenno’s music on Utopia is deeply expressive. As always, her winsome voice is a big draw, but here the sense is that she is going emotionally deeper. War is a great example, a darker song with a lower vocal that leaves a lasting effect. 73, too, gets more emotional, while St Ives New School feels like a meditation on motherhood, with a coda of real substance.

Dancing On Volcanoes is a great pop single, while Ghost Of You is beautifully song. The Devil may be serious and relatively dark in lyrical content but again it has a dreamy side. Y Gath, a collaboration with Cate Le Bon and H. Hawkline, feels multilayered, a song to return to for full discovery. Finally Hireth is a spectral beauty, its cascading guitars complementing another excellent vocal.

Does it all work?

It does – the more personal side reaping rewards in longer songs that are as expressive as they are colourful.

Is it recommended?

It is, enthusiastically. Gwenno writes great pop songs, for sure, and has the voice to communicate them well, but intensive listening ensures the compositions are bound together, both in message and music. Gwenno’s best album yet.

For fans of… Cocteau Twins, Cate Le Bon, Gruff Rhys, Wolf Alice

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,604 – Wednesday 30 July 2025