By: Passing yourselves off as the Welsh Sigur Ros may not be the cleverest of things to do unless you can back that statement up with music to match. Thankfully Yucatan not only match but also surpass the Icelandic band in depths of emotion and jaw-dropping beauty on their new album, Uwch Gopa’r Mynydd. A bold statement but even a singular listen to this album will prove it is a worthy one. There are moments on here where you will literally lose your senses and simply sit gawking at nothing in particular as the music sweeps over you.
It would be easy for Yucatan to get carried away with their grandiose meanderings but their trick is to keep a firm ear on the intimate and whilst there are moments which take on a cinematic level, these are tempered by the much better homely feelings. It’s a Welsh trick taken on board by the likes of Golden Fable and Little Arrow and no doubt inspired by that greatest of all, SFA, at their most relaxed. Indeed it’s almost fortuitous that in the year when Mwng gets re-released, we get another Welsh language album that matches up to that classic.
Language barriers aside, Yucatan deliver on all levels here and although you may not be able to understand what they are singing about that’s not the point. Such is the lilt of the welsh language, it chimes along and seeps into your consciousness much like Sigur Ros do with their language. Only this time the language is real and by that reckoning, packs a much bigger emotional punch.
As for the music, from the opening strands of ‘Ffin’ to the final moments of ‘Uwch Gopa’r Mynydd’ all life is here. The epic ‘Cwm Llwm’ stirs emotions deep inside you whilst ‘Llyn Tawelwch’ threatens to make you cry. There are several moments too, where time seems to stand still and the music transcends your very soul leaving you a gibbering wreck. It’s beauty of the highest order, a beauty that doesn’t arrive very often. A beauty which the Welsh seem to hold so near to their hearts when it comes to music.
And it’s the Welshness that makes this album what it is. You can almost picture the sweeping hillsides leading up to Snowdonia and the valleys beyond where slate quarries lie abandoned only to see life as a tourist trade. It evokes the lost sense of belonging which can only be found on a St David’s Day parade or when the rugby team breathes it’s dragons fire. It also evokes the home-spun tales of the Mabinogian and other folk tales which make the culture so enduring. To a Welshman it will raise tears of understanding, to others a cry of joy at the music it can produce.
This album is pretty untouchable and is pretty damn near perfect in it’s delivery. Not a moment goes by where a note is wasted or you feel the need to do something else. It transfixes and holds you in its grasp until it’s very end then begs you to play it again and discover other delights. They may very well be the Welsh answer to Sigur Ros but they are also so much more. Who knows what goes through the minds of these musicians when they reach yet another mini crescendo on this fabulous journey. Yucatan may be the most essential band on the planet at this very moment.
