EXCLUSIVE SIVE SIVE. OK, so we here Joy Collective chimps are, as you will know, huge squealing fanboys when it comes to mercurial Anglesey surf-rock gems Y Niwl. We may have mentioned it. Naturally, when a pair of new tracks from a forthcoming EP were aired on Marc Riley’s 6 Music show the other week, we were keen to get hold of them; lead guitarist and all-round jumper-clad dude Alun very kindly obliged us, in order that we might steal a march and inform you of their greatness. And pretty great they are.
It’s been hugely heartening to see the word-of-mouth praise for Y Niwl spread nationwide since Swn and Latitude last year – 6Music sessions, Radio 1 daytime play, an upcoming Gruff Rhys support tour and Album of the Week status in the Independent for starters – and rightly so. They’ve been pretty much the most fun live band of the last 12 months, and these new tunes show why.
‘Undegchwech’ rides in on an instantly memorable Shadowsy guitar line, all ‘Walk Don’t Run’ twang, with a lovely ‘Human Fly’ fretboard run thrown in second time around. Grins all over. Gruff Ab Arwel’s distinctive Teisko organ parps up in the second half of the song, more of a staccato ’96 Tears’ vibe than the medium-paced, organ-heavy tracks on the album though and a little more instant as a result. ‘Undegsaith’, meanwhile, rattles along like the theme to the really great US alternative comedy show you wish you’d watched at 16 instead of lounging in front of the evening repeat of Neighbours, all slaloming lead guitar lines and frantic rhythms, before crashing to a halt at just 68 seconds like prime Clinic. The stylistic breadth they’ve already managed to explore in a short time and within fairly strict genre parameters is impressive, but it’s hard to deny that short and sweet bruisers like ‘Undegsaith’, and ‘Un’ before it, are still the most satisfying. Maybe it’ll be elongated by the time the EP emerges, but it doesn’t need to be. Hurry up with that second album, sirs.
Y Niwl’s first 7″ EP and the debut album ‘Y Niwl’ can be purchased at http://yniwl.bandcamp.com.
