The fact that Y Morgrug are all 12 years old is central and unavoidable in the same way as the deepness of the Grand Canyon or Prince Harry’s James Hewitt-ness. It’s also a feature guaranteed to attract various hipsters and patronisers and that’s fine and unavoidable too. Like maggots, they’ve got their place in the food chain as well. This is the debut Morgrug EP, and it’s a relief to have a physical release to focus on, however sweet their backstory is (from Bangor, North Wales, spotted by Huw Stephens at a primary school battle of the bands, songs covered by Cate Le Bon, first gig in a crammed sweatbox at Swn). The five songs here go some way to explaining why I love these boys like a slightly creepy uncle: Y Morgrug’s blend of chord-a-day guitar strumming, one finger Casio and excitable Welsh ramblings is so removed from any notions of cool, so completely full of simplistic joy that it atomises every personality-free support band and workaday worry instantly.
It helps that they have tune-writing chops too. The oldest songs here, ‘1-2-3-4-5’ and ‘Motorwei’ are by far the most basic, but still have within them massive nagging catchiness. There’s barreloads of enjoyment to be had hearing singer Rhun counting to ten to avoid stropping out his mum, or wee drummer Osian staring ambivalently out of backseat car windows. ‘Cur Y Pen’ is the weakest thing here, though redeemed somewhat by chucking a farty keyboard noise solo and a weird shout out to Liverpool striker Fernando Torres into its jaunty throw-a-sickie jumble. The last two songs mine weird gold though: ‘Bywyd Gwych’, with its lonely Brian Wilson “ooh”s and gauchely plucked strings, is oddly touching, while ‘Y Gan Od’ walks as tall as you can when you’re 4ft high, all zipedee doodah strut and proclamations of greatness, like mini Mohammed Alis.
4ft high and rising then. ‘Ni Yw…’ is a fine record, sparky and slanted enough to transcend any cheap age references crap reviewers can throw at it. Apologies from me; a treat for you.
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