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BRAND NEW FERNHILL for 2003: Hynt is now available

fernhill
whilia
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Since they formed in 1996, fernhill have become important cultural ambassadors for Wales and its music, having toured in 20 countries including performances for the King of Swaziland and the President of Mozambique. They have recorded three critically acclaimed albums; the latest, Whilia, was a top twenty album in the Folk Roots poll 2000. fernhill create a new musical landscape from the indigenous dance rhythms and folk poetry of Wales. Julie Murphy's passionate singing combined with guitar, fiddle, double bass and trumpet produces a sound both gutsy and enchanting.

This, the third album from fernhill, is an exilariting journey through the rich Welsh-language dance/song tradition. Whilia ('talking') brings a thrilling contemporary dynamic to a still-neglected heritage of words and music. From the exultant celebration of dawns o gwmpas (dance around) to the dark malevolence of dole teifi (Teifi meadows) this is an urgent and expressive album which embraces love and landscape in a wealth of different ways. Fronted by the passionate voice of Julie Murphy the music ebbs and surges, sometimes with lyrical sweetness and sometimes with raw, barbaric attack. It is easy to see why fernhill have won international recognition as Wales's leading traditional music group.

'The trio of Fernhill is creating a powerful new folk music in Europe, one that is born of a deep love of Welsh music, but does not hesitate to tread into other parts of the continent for grace and inspiration. Julie Murphy is one of the best traditional voices in Briatin these days, and her deep understanding of Welsh music and language shines through here. Her strong, simple voice is a rare pleasure in an age of overhyped and overworked "new folk" singers. Andy Cutting, also a Brit, is a diatonic button accordion player of great skill, and has made music with folkies like Chris Wood, Pete Morton and June Tabor, as well as some heavy-weight popsters like Sting. His playing here is direct and vital, a powerful, unadorned punch. Welsh musician Ceri Rhys Matthews plays guitar, cittern and reed instruments, and has been a champion of the Welsh culture for a long time. The song "Fi Wela" is an exemplary collaboration of cultural sounds from Welsh, British and Breton traditions, and provides each member a strong voice.' - CF, RootsWorld 'If a band as gifted as Fernhill played more pop-oriented music their faces would be plastered all over mass circulation publications and web sites. But instead, Julie Murphy (vocals), Andy Cutting (button accordion) and Ceri Rhys Matthews (guitar, clarinet, bombo, bagpipes) put their talents to work creating a beautiful vision of Anglo-Welsh roots music. As you'll discover on Whilia, Murphy, Cutting and Matthews have an incredible empathy. These people were born to play music together. Each member knows just what to do in concert with the other two.; whether its Matthews and Cutting trading riffs on faster instrumental pieces or playing just the right accompaniment for Murphy's marvellous singing. It's also remarkable how full an orchestral sound these three musicians make just between themselves. What's more, this recording has a great 'live' feel even though there was at least a little overdubbing. Except for a brief excerpt from Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett's 'Song to the Siren' all of the material on Whilia is traditional, and with performances this good, to just sit back and listen would be fine. Those who are interested, however, will be pleased to know that the CD booklet includes full English translation of all the songs.' -Sing Out! (USA) "The Best Thing I've Heard All Year" 'I couldn't decide between Eminem's album The Marshall Mathers LP and a Welsh language album called Whilia by Fernhill. I dunno how you would describe it - it's very beautiful sounding but very sort of rhythmic, quite French sounding kind of Celtic music, y'know? It's like fiddles and boxes and, what d'you call them, pastoral oboes. They just do Welsh language stuff mainly. The singer is my favourite singer in the world, Julie Murphy. And yeah, it is folky but it's very picturesque. She's got a very beautiful voice, pure sounding, and she's got such a way with singing, she's really lyrical and very lilting - beautiful, beautiful singing. It's really nice to listen to very late at night, y'know, on a Sunday. It's quite intricately arranged, but just fantastic. It's on Beautiful Jo Records. I think it's their third album. Incredibly beautiful - I just sat there listening to it going, Oh my God.' - (Eliza Carthy in Mojo Magazine) 'Fernhill have come a long way in a short time. At the very heart of an encouraging renaissance of Welsh music right across the board - rock band Super Furry Animals have just released a Welsh language album - they are not content merely to be revivalists, innovatively blending the spirit of Wales with music of other environs. Last year's challenging but superb Black Mountains Revisited solo album by Julie Murphy underlined the fact that here's a highly focused outfit with horizons way beyond the Severn Bridge. This time Murphy, Ceri Rhys Matthews and Andy Cutting strip away all extraneous baggage for a predominantly Welsh language album of potent purity. Murphy's singing seems to have acquired an almost mystical edge even since Black Mountains, that takes on an even richer presence given appealing arrangements and unlikely instrumentation. Cutting's button accordeon will never be anything less than a joy while Matthews contributes a constantly appealing selection of accompaniments varying from clarinet to bombo. Dawns O Gwmpas is a nine-minute track but never palls for a second such is the vitality contained in the mesh of vocals and instruments, notably Matthews' compelling piping. Never as harsh or as inaccessible as you imagine, it is in fact a very bright, upbeat collection sometimes recalling Breton dance music, at other times portraying images of rural beauty and intrigue. Nothing, however, is quite as jaw-droppingly arresting as another nine minute epic, Cariad Fel Y Mor, which opens with Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren, which Liz Fraser took into the charts with This Mortal Coil in the '80s. This variant is no less mesmerising or enchanting. Whilia - which means Talking - is an album of both charm and beauty. Welsh without tears.' - Colin Irwin, Folk Roots

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