Y Ffyrc - 'Oes' (Rasal) Released 05/02/07

During the early years of their career, Catatonia were the Welsh scene’s best-kept secret, merely grazing the charts while a resurgent Manic Street Preachers hit their peak and Super Furry Animals stole the plaudits. However, it always seemed like a matter of time before the combination of Mark Roberts’ dreamy indie pop and Cerys Matthews’ sandpaper vocal tones reaped the rewards so widely predicted, and a series of tracks starting with the well-timed ‘Mulder and Scully’ catapulted them into the mainstream. It didn’t last – Matthews battled with drugs, emerging with a folky solo album, while Roberts fell off the radar. Until now.

For ‘Oes’ – the first album by Robert’s new band Y Ffyrc, the songwriter has taken on vocalist duties and opted to return to his native tongue. A synth-augmented opener ‘Godinebwraig’ raises hopes of early-SFA style space-glam, but the rest of ‘Oes’ doesn’t really live up to the standard. Well performed yet under-produced, it falls flat when compared to, if we’re being obvious, Gruff Rhys’ new effort.

There are moments on ‘Oes’ that really bring back the joys of Catatonia’s best moments, from the spiralling harmonies of ‘Elwyn a’r Olwynian’ to the stripped-down plucking of ‘Nia Be Wna’I’ or the Celtic anthemics of ‘Bylchau’. But elsewhere it feels a little bit watery, lacking in real punch or grit. Lacking, perhaps, Cerys Matthews.

‘Oes’ isn’t a disaster by any means – it’s a welcome return for a gifted songwriter and a brave one at that, spurning the English language that served him so well during his last spell in the spotlight. Perhaps, like many of his contemporaries (the Gorky’s soloists, Graham Coxon, even Matthews), the shunning of the mainstream will bring him the artistic contentment he needs.

And while it has its faults, if ‘Oes’ brings back some focus to Roberts’ career, then those shortcomings may be forgiven in future.