2020 has witnessed an outpouring of creativity from Super Furry Animals multi-instrumentalist Cian Ciaran under a number of different guises. First was the return of 4/5ths of the aforementioned pop-gods disguised as Das Koolies offering the bombastic beauty of It's All About the Dolphins. In a year of Brexit and Covid political turmoil it was inevitable that Ciaran would feel the need to comment and he has done so through a collaboration with She Drew The Gun on Keep The Darkness Out which suggests that in the face of the usual forces aimed at disturbing the peace; war, politics and religion, art can sometimes be the purest form of protest. This is a point he further emphasised through his collaboration with Jehst and Wibidi on the startling slow build of Are You Down With Me? Not content with the combined ten minute composition of these two tracks (both appearing on forthcoming album Hero, Leader, God), Ciaran then released an astonishing six hour contemplative soundscape on the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, symbolically releasing it at 2.15 p.m. on the 5th of August – the time (British Summer Time) that the Enola Gay began it's evil journey. Coming in at over three hours short of the cinematic rumination on the Holocaust that is Claude Lanzmann's documentary Shoah, it nevertheless achieves a similarly numbing and horrified response to another act of Twentieth Century horror; the unnecessary detonation of the first atomic bomb.
Since the most recent Super Furry hiatus, Ciaran (with partner Estelle Ios) has also been busy producing and playing rock and pop with the excellent Zefur Wolves. If this wasn't enough, another of his recent releases slipped out unheralded a couple of years ago and whilst wowing Wales, it received little by way of attention over the border and in the lands beyond, so a reappraisal of Rhys A Meinir is overdue.
Having just returned from the wondrous location where Ciaran's Rhys A Meinir, is set it was playing on my mind that there was a lack of attention paid to Cian's first foray into classical music and that this quite beautiful piece deserved a wider audience. The Super Furry Animals were driven by melody, as have Ciaran's solo albums and Zefur Wolves input, so it is no surprise that this classical piece has tuneful links with the group's pop tastes and can therefore be enjoyed by fans of their more conventional output (if they could ever be called 'conventional').
On Ciaran's website, the outline of the story is filled in:-
"The story follows Rhys and Meinir, destined to find true love in each other, living in the remote village of Nant Gwrtheyrn. Their childhood romance blossomed for all to see, but on the day of their marriage, Meinir is nowhere to be found and the mystery leads Rhys into months of despair. When finally a thunder strike reveals Meinir’s final hiding place, Rhys is unable to live a second longer.
Ciarán says: “The story of Rhys & Meinir was told to me as a young boy, by my father in the village of Nant Gwrtheyrn, where it is set, so has deep resonance with me.
“It’s a double tragedy and there can be no happy ending, but it’s a part of Welsh storytelling and culture, a language and identity, which in turn continues to add to the rich diversity of the world around us. The intermittent spoken word element will give Welsh speakers an outline to follow, but the music will set the mood for everyone. I’ve written it as a sonic experience and, hopefully, a beautifully emotional one, allowing people to imagine the drama of this love story as it unfolds in the splendour of its setting.”
It is quite evident that this is a very personal composition for Ciaran, and the passionate arrangements give testimony to its place in his heart.
The liquid, gravel tones of Rhys Ifans open the record immediately echoing a similar voice uttering the immortal "To begin at the beginning..."as the tragic folk tale of the doomed Rhys and Meinir is laid out before us in the language of the peaks and the chapels. Agor I Mi Fel Y Mor (Opens Up To Me Like the Sea) is a suitably light and then dramatic opening with angelic voices and a slightly dark refrain that remains lodged long after the first listen.
MwydrynYn Mynd Am Adre (Daydreaming Wandering Fool) sees Satie and a touch of Ravel's Bolero percussion flesh out the character of Rhys musically. Haul O Rwyle'n Tywynnu (Sunshine From Nowhere) witnesses intermittent rays before the sun crashes through once more with the refrain of Agor I Mi Fel Y Mor illuminating the skies.
I'r Golwg DrwY'r Golau (She Appears Through the Light) introduces Meinir to a wonderfully innocent accompaniment, a theme continued with the beautifully light and slight Golau'n Y Gwyll (Twighlight) and the harp imbued Safodd Yn Stond (She Was Calm). The all too brief Meinir Yn Un A Minnau (Meinir And I As One) is a beautiful, mildly swelling melody that builds into something quite epic as the two main characters intertwine. Marwydos (Morning Embers) and Gwe Arian (A Dress of Silver Web) and Swn Neithior (Distant Sounds Of The Wedding Feast) combine to evoke the wedding morning preparations, the latter ending with a pomp suggesting all is ready. Roeddwyn I'n Gyfan (I Felt Complete) employs a Khatcharchurian like swell that is positively euphoric in epitomising the feelings of the groom towards his bride. The joyous bounce of Rhedeg (The Chase) signals the beginning of the pre-wedding traditional games but it soon takes an ominous turn with the foreboding Eiliadau'n Fwledi (Seconds Pass Like Bullets) the frantic Cuddio (She Hides) and the tension heightening Dal I Gyrfri (The Counting Continues). The tragedy takes hold in Gwyfyn I'r Fagddu (Like A Moth In the Darkness) as an off kilter Agor I Mi Fel Y Mor returns.
A 'Nghydwybod Yn Ebill (An Auger To The Head) is a particularly moving piece that encapsulates the anguish Rhys feels at the disappearance of his bride to be whilst Sefyll Yn Dawel (Stillness) and Y Cof Yn Codi Cyfog (Memories Torment) conjure up emotions of loss before the heartrendingly beautiful and moving crescendo of Alltud (Exiled) which alongside Meinir Yn Un A Minnau is the highlight of the opus.
Twrw'r Daran Drwy'r Deri (Thunder On The Oak) is a suitably dramatic rendering of the tragedy's finale whilst Ffawd (Fate) suggests hope that this is not quite the end of the Rhys A Meinir story. The closing Yno I Mi Fel Y Mor (There For Me Like The Sea) is reminiscent of Morricone's The Mission and lends the tragedy a triumphant ending as Rhys is reunited with his beloved Meinir.
In the way that Kyffin Williams painted and captured the landscape of North Wales, Cian Ciaran has sculpted sounds out the quarry side at Nant Gwrtheryn to encapsulate this little pocket of heaven soothed by the crashing waves and smothered by the towering mountains.
Rhys A Meinir is a wonderfully crafted piece and is a rewarding listen when escape is required from the hectic pace of life.
It bodes well for any further forays that Ciaran takes into the classical world.
Rhys A Meinir - https://cianciaran.bandcamp.com/album/rhys-a-meinir
Keep The Darkness Out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-_Fhbc9e7o
Are You Down With Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZjIdv44Rws
Hiroshima - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isa_2UIaEz0
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