Dilyn Afon

Cynefin is the recording name of West Wales trip-hop-and-jazz-player-turned-folk-musician Owen Shiers. The title translates as ‘Following a River’ and takes inspiration from Welsh poet T Llew Jones' documentary film of the Clettwr River in Ceredigion, where Shiers was brought up. He retraces the river's path, following his own tributaries of lost song and music, creating what he calls ‘a sense of the musical topography of the place’, a journey explained in the excellent dual-language sleeve notes. Clettwr means ‘Rough Water’ but this music is gentler, a lyrical channel studded with often beautiful folk-pop melodies and a mixture of the lush, lyrical and spare, topped by Shiers' beguiling vocals.

With an octet of players, including woodwind, brass, strings and harp, he reworks fragments of traditional words and melodies into often beautifully textured new arrangements. ‘Y Deryn Du’ (Blackbird) is one of several utterly charming songs about talking animals – they include ‘Y Ddau Farch/Y Bardd A'r Gwcw’ (Two Stallions/Bard & the Cuckoo), ‘Y Fwyalchen Ddu Bigfelen’ (The Yellow Beaked Blackbird) and ‘Broga Bach’ (Little Frog), a rare version of ‘Froggie Went a Courting’. The love song ‘Lliw'r Ceiroes’ (Colour of Cherries) highlights his excellent guitar work. It's a distinct debut and a compelling investigation into local traditions rescued from their fast-disappearing sources.