Album Review : Huw Marc Bennett – ‘Heol Las': re-imagining bygone songs through a unique folktronica gaze.

Over the last few years producer and multi-instrumentalist Huw Marc Bennett’s solo releases has traced his deepening fascination in the music of his home-land, Wales. In 2020 the ‘Tresilian Bay’ album, named after a Glamorgan coastal spot, may have been a giddy blend of Baile funk, nu jazz fusion and afrobeats but there was a twinge of Gorky’s indie-psych burbling beneath. Three years later ‘Days Like Now’ did more than suggest, it absorbed Bennett’s memories of Welsh traditional song and tradition. Grooviness was retained but something more folktronic was emerging. Now we have his latest album ‘Heol Las’ out on the ever-giving Albert’s Favourites and Bennett has dived head-first into the vibrant melodious world of his Welsh regional heritage. As he says himself it’s all been a question of “stepping back to move forward”.

The opener Carol Haf (Summer Carol) thrives on the combination that Bennett is talking about. His crisp acoustic guitar trills the tune with simple hand drum thump coaxing the twirl of a set dance in the sunshine. A fuller sound soon scales up, a folky skank that’s topped by Bennett’s surf-toned electric guitar which holds the tune with a hint of Ali Farka Touré sensitivity. As the harmonium drones louder, the whole tune takes a colourful Bhangra twist underlining once again Bennett’s awareness as a global beats interpreter.

Such seamless, subtle fusion continues with Y Fedwen (The Birch), a song inspired by Bennett’s nieces who are the first children in his extended family to attend a Welsh medium school. It’s another innocent trad dancing tune with a jaunty folk-rock bounce but the lyrics, written and sung in Welsh by Angela Christofilou, hint of deeper things. Bennett is bringing his personal connection with his home culture further out into the open on this album and making a case for its continuing significance today. The prog like flourish within Y Fedwen highlights the positivity and engagement he’s looking for. No doubt Bennett is showing us his reverence for the old music of cerddoriaeth werin, (the folk songs of Morgannwg) but not through simple reproduction. He’s nuturing those deep folklore roots to bring us some bright new shoots.

All the tracks on ‘Heol Las’ are re-imagined carefully from song collections and through those indefinable oral traditions. One source that Bennett dives into is the works of the poet and radical nineteenth century Welsh bard Edward Williams, better known as lolo Morgannwg. Y Fedwen draws on one of his melodies as does the three different versions of Gwenith Gwen (White Wheat) which thread through the album. A love story of devotion and tragedy, Gwenith Gwen 1796 is maybe the one for any purists with its Jansch-like riffing, Seth Bye’s yearning fiddle and a gentle organ hum. The piece needs nothing else to capture the heartache. Bennett’s Gwenith Gwyn 1911 gives the base tune more of a melodic swell and injects some quirky lo-fi Bon Tempi tones but maybe Bennett’s take on the 1837 version is the most compelling. A clattering pipe organ, the hint of rain and the resonance of chapel music frames a sombre moment which hints of loss but also resilience.

Bennett has talked about now feeling closer to his home and when he returns there for any length of time getting rejuvenated. That surge of inspiration gives the music on Heol Las a special energy of its own, it is a singular response to the traditional. Can y Saer Maen (The Stonemasons song) merges folksiness with quirky psychedelia, warm synths with rhumba shuffles and Hank-clear Fender licks with layers of fiddles plus mandolins. Bennett’s new perspectives on old music also often rings with surprises like early Tunng. There’s a Morricone soundtrack meets madrigal to the opening of Can y Gwartheg (Drovers Song) before the track bursts into a stomping fusion of bazouki patterns and Anatolian rock guitar shapes. More atmospheric but as intriguing Yr Abaty (The Abbey) builds from a Lankum-ish drone to a swirling Romany lament while Can Gwasael (Wassail Song) waltzes and sways merrily.

On ‘Heol Las’ Huw Marc Bennett may not be exploring his musical heritage with a purist’s zeal but that’s what makes this album so refreshing. His connection comes with a playful affection and a commitment to keeping these bygone tunes vital and brimming with new life.