GORKY’S. (There’s never any escaping Gorky’s, and how great they are, let’s face it. If you were really lucky, you actually could’ve seen them at the Hacienda.) Meilyr Jones. Gulp. El Goodo.
The river of brilliant and wayward Welsh quirky, psych-inflected bands floweth ever on; and rounding this bend in our canoe, we come across just the latest, in the Cardiff and London-based four-piece Melin Melyn, who’ve debuted at the ball with the wonky excellence of “Rebecca”, which you can hear below.
The tune begins as a twangsome bluesy country number, in which “the cow don’t milk and the cock don’t crow”, before sliding helter-skelter into a Gorkysesque riot of hammered piano, skronking sax, and slashed punky riffs, as if Speedy Wunderground had been born in the cwms of the west and loved a little glam and X-Ray Spex. Now that’s ace.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the tales of the Rebecca Riots,” says lead singer Gruff: “when Welsh farmers in the 1800s took to smashing up the toll gates put up by rich landowners, whilst being dressed in women’s clothes screaming the name Rebecca.
“That incredulity and rage still exists today, rising day by day due to the rich feeding off the poor … perhaps I should get my skirt.”
Before it all kicked off, they were booked to play at both Green Man and End of the Road this year, those twin meccas of British music festival excellence; they’re definitely down for End of the Road 2021, the line-up for which has just been announced – let’s hope they play GM too. And release more delicious songs. And then some more.
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