Phil Gas on a journey from lockdown
The journey of this new album, like many records over the last period, has been a very winding path. Since releasing the last full length record - 'O Nunlla' in 2018, the band have released two singles. First, Mesen Fach was released in 2019 to celebrate the arrival of Tudur Huws Jones to the band. Then came Covid-19 and in the short gap between lockdown periods the band managed to release ‘Ar gyfer heddiw’r bore’ in 2020.
But a great deal of other material was being prepared, with the band connecting over the internet and sending each other 'demos'. These two digital singles are now being released on CD for the first time, alongside 8 brand new songs.
"It's been a struggle to get this finished" says Phil. "Very little was recorded with us all in the studio at the same time, and the last long record was almost entirely 'live'. But there has been a big development in the sound of the band and Tudur's contribution as a composer is very valuable to us."
The words for one of the songs is the work of poet Meirion MacIntyre Huws - ‘Dwi’n ifanc dyna pam’ ('I'm young that's why') while the words for 'Gwnewch Bopeth yn Gymraeg' ('Do everything in Welsh') are taken from one of Mynyddog's poems from the nineteenth century. The inspiration for Phil's songs are often inspired by his locality. 'Cân i Mel' (Mel's song) is another example of that; a tribute to one of Dyffryn Nantlle's greatest characters.