Album of the Week: Gwenno - Tresor

Cult favourite experimental pop queen Gwenno has had quite the path to get to her brilliant third album, Tresor (Treasure in French). While her debut solo album dates back to 2014 (the stunning Y Dydd Olaf), her musical output dates back far before this as a member of indie pop group The Pipettes and their debut way back in 2006 (and lets not forget a stint as touring synth player with Elton John and Pnau in 2012!).

Recorded just prior to COVID lockdowns in 2020, Tresor is sung almost entirely in the Cornish language, a language Gwenno was raised speaking alongside Welsh and a language extremely close to her heart, as it is the language of family and community gatherings, as well as the language of thoughts and dreams, described as “a language of loving and longing”.

Tresor is possibly Gwenno’s most poppy and accessible album to date, with a much stronger psychedelic influence shining through, as her unique, instantly recognisable voice floats above indie chamber pop compositions with influences as far reaching as 1950’s exotica to the golden age of early 1990s IDM (so called “Intelligent Dance Music”).

Proving that music truly is a universal language, the lyrics on Tresor may be foreign to most listeners, but Gwenno’s enchanting and alluring vocal delivery coupled a diverse yet cohesive array of elegant indie compositions, and the emotions they engender are more than understood upon first listen.

Gwenno's new album Tresor is out now via Heavenly Recordings / PIAS

The best of the rest of this week's records:

Guided By Voices - Tremblers and Goggles by Rank [Independent] USA

Indie Rock

Momma - Household Name [Mirror Records / Virgin Music Australia] USA

Rock

Moor Mother - Jazz Codes [Anti-] USA

Hip Hop / Experimental

Naima Block - Giant Palm [Sub Pop] USA

Alternative

Naomi Alligator - Double Knot [Carpark Records] USA

Alt Folk

Neighbour Lady - For The Birds [Park The Van] USA

Indie / Americana

TWÏNS - The Human Jazz [Earth Libraries] GER

Alternative