Sci-fi mountain music: new Bitw LP
Bitw
Rehearse
New album released 1st December 2023 on Klep Dim Trep
Check out the video for first single 'Pretender': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQpLXexMpiU
“I fell for Gruff Ab Arwel’s idiosyncratic mind and music years ago when, still at school, he was one half of surreal Welsh pop band, Eitha Tal Ffranco. They sung of part-time vegetarians and suicidal teachers. Bitw is an incredible continuation of the curiosity, mystery and casual surrealism that has imbued all his work to date. It is sci-fi mountain music - familiar and uncanny.” - Cate Le Bon
Sci-fi mountain music. Cate Le Bon hit the nail on the head when she spoke of Gruff ab Arwel (aka Bitw) and his glorious self-titled debut album. One of Wales’ better-connected musicians is now 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.
“I’d vowed never to record at home again, the last album took fucking ages.” Gruff laughs, having unintentionally followed the pattern of his living room recorded self-titled debut. “I’d planned to record this album as "live" with a band but that was in March 2020 so naturally there was a change of plan. It ended up recorded mostly at home in Caernarfon again, with the odd session at the local arts centre. That turn of events cemented the sentiment behind the record – here I was, doing the same as before but expecting a different outcome.”
Location challenge set, Rehearse remains as buoyant as ever and captures the familiar pop territory of his beloved self-titled debut. Cranking up the experimentation dial to discover new ways of moving the sound forwards, Gruff mixed up the instrumentation and experimented with dynamics by swapping out synths for acoustic ambience - inadvertently capturing the esoteric influence of his own favourite sources of inspiration. “I enjoy slightly left-of-centre, late 60s-70s pop; that’s where I broadly orbit. I’m an advocate of pushing yourself into a less comfortable direction."
Tapping into his own sonic network of kindred musical spirits, the album was mixed by Llŷr Pari and features Gwion Llewelyn (Aldous Harding, H. Hawkline, Villagers, Gulp, Race Horses) on drums and flugelhorn, Stephen Black (aka Sweet Baboo) on woodwind, Mari Morgan (aka Chwaer Fawr) on violin, and George Amor (Omaloma) - all joining forces on backing vocals. “Bringing in more people was good – not only for their incredible performances, but also their opinions and ideas. Recording alone has advantages, but it becomes impossible to listen objectively so the extra input stops you second-guessing yourself,” he tells of the process which throws back to his 15 years or so playing in bands with Gruff Rhys (Bitw also wrote all the string parts for his upcoming ‘Sadness Sets Me Free’ album), H. Hawkline (who created Rehearse’s artwork), Eleanor Friedberger, and in Snowdonia's premium surf outfit Y Niwl.
Whilst we await cries of ‘inherently Welsh sensibility,’ what’s implied will be how the breezy guitar and lyrical light-heartedness is punctuated with pastiche between sweetness and bitwness. “Bits of the record deal with some ugly things about myself I possibly wouldn't have confronted otherwise - listlessness and self-doubt permeate the songs, many seem to be about waiting, expectation... although I couldn't say what for, but there's definitely some hope in there too.”
