Sci-fi mountain music. Cate Le Bon hit the nail on the head when, as White Label Series guest curator for the Joyful Noise label, she spoke of Gruff ab Arwel after unveiling his glorious pop offering Bitw to the world. Now, deservedly as perhaps one of Wales’ better-connected musicians (a member of Snowdonia’s premium surf outfit Y Niwl, he’s also played with Gruff Rhys, H.Hawkline, Eleanor Friedberger and Georgia Ruth), he’s releasing his burgeoning follow-up. A lesson in rolling with the punches, Rehearse is proof that keeping good company can be handy when your best laid plans go awry, and how being easy on the ears often comes from a place of discomfort.

 

Whilst Bitw’s debut stems from a blissful reminiscing rather than a wallowing in nostalgia and yearning to recapture the past, Rehearse is of the moment as it takes shape from songs which just so happen to have been written at the exact same place and time, and only once finished did it force the clouds to part and reveal itself to be his most personal offering to date.