Welsh musician Gwenno releases her sophomore album, Le Kov, through Heavenly Recordings. Written entirely in Cornish, the album represents an exploration of the individual and collective subconscious, the myths and drolls of Cornwall, and the survival of Britain’s lesser known Brythonic language...

As one of the language’s few fluent speakers, Gwenno felt a duty to make her second album entirely in Cornish: to create a document of a living language, explore her identity and the endless creative possibilities of a tongue that has a very small surviving artistic output, despite having been around for at least 15 centuries. She dove deep into research, learning about attempts to protect and progress the language and the role of women throughout Cornish history.

The album opens with 'Hy a Skoellyas Lyf a Dhagrow', a title borrowed from a song on Aphex Twins 2001 album Drukqs.

Of the album's 10 tracks (44 min, 28 sec), songs I found instantly accessible and totally gratifying included 'Den Heb Taves'; and 'Koweth Ker'. The rest of the album will take a while to grow on you - I was playing it for two weeks before I really started to warm to it as a whole.

It's an interesting album that helps to keep the Cornish language alive and should whet your appetite enough to do a little online research into some of its rich cultural history.

7

Nick Smithson