There’s no doubting that there’s a warmth to Huw M’s music and this album, ‘Gathering Dusk’ is like answering the door to an old friend. True, the word ‘lovely’ is overused. But from the fragile, ethereal ‘For while I wait for you to sleep’ to the lush texture of ‘Dyma lythyr’, ‘Gathering Dusk’ is a piece of pure loveliness, somewhere between Gorky’s delicate moments and Gruff Rhys’s sweet pop.

When performing live, Huw usually loops various sounds, so creating his own ‘band’. But here, like a house made of Lego, every musical brick is purposely placed, overlapping each other to create a magical arrangement.

‘Gathering Dusk’ is marginally different to his other albums in that it is more of a collaboration between Huw and real live musicians; Angust West plays the French horn, and Lucy Simmonds on the cello (a member of the Mavron Quartet who featured on Gareth Bonello’s latest album) draws on her classical background. Frank Naughton (drums, base guitar, percussion), Alun Bonello (drums) and Bethan Reynolds (vocals) also bring their influences to the table, and between them, cook up a feast. Huw M sings of real, first hand experiences; nothing flowery and pretentious and to accompany each song, the designer Aled ‘Arth’ Cummins has created a booklet with an image for each one.

“The ideas for ‘Gathering Dusk’ have been developing since I released my first album ‘Os Mewn Sŵn’. Some ideas have been growing slowly, others disappeared and then reappeared, some that I couldn’t stand and some that have developed into bigger and better songs with the help of other musicians.” There are strains of the vast Welsh folk tradition to be heard in ‘Gathering Dusk’, but Huw M gives it a bright new coat of paint. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely

Tracks –

1: The Perfect Silence

2: Dyma Lythyr

3: Chwyldro Tawel

4: Hide Behind you

5: Martha a Mair

6: Babushka, wake me!

7: Ystafelloedd Gwag

8: Brechdanau sgwâr

9: Be

10: For while I wait for you to sleep.

Mae `na agosatrwydd yn perthyn i gerddoriaeth Huw M ac mae ei albwm newydd ‘Gathering Dusk’ fel agor y drws i hen gyfaill. Gwir, mae’r gair ‘hyfryd’ efallai’n cael ei or-ddefnyddio a’i gam defnyddio. Ond o eiliadau bregus gwe pry cop ‘For while I wait for you to sleep’ i lawnder haenog ‘Dyma lythyr’, mae ‘Gathering Dusk’ yn hyfrydwch pur, rhywle rhwng ceinder y Gorkys a phop melys Gruff Rhys.

Yn fyw, wele Huw gan amlaf yn creu ei fand ei hun trwy recordio pob sain a sŵn yn frith draphlith tros ei gilydd. Ond fel tŷ Lego, mae pob bricsen gerddorol yn lapio’n gywrain, gwydn a phwrpasol.

Ychydig yn wahanol felly yw‘Gathering Dusk’, sy’n frith o gyd-gyfansoddiad rhwng Huw a cherddorion o gig a gwaed. Yma clywn y corn Ffrengig a chwaraeir gan Angust West a daw Lucy Simmonds a’i soddgrwth (aelod o’r Maveron Quartet, a glywir ar albwm ddiweddaraf Gareth Bonello) a’i dylanwad clasurol i gwrdd â’r gwerinol. Daw Frank Naughton (drymiau, gitâr bas ac offerynnau taro), Alun Bonello (drymiau) a Bethan Reynolds (llais) hefyd a’u dylanwadau at y bwrdd, gan roi i ni wledd.

Cawn yma ganeuon am brofiadau go iawn Huw M; dim byd blodeuog a chymhleth, ac i fframio pob cân, wele ddelwedd arbennig i bob un mewn llyfryn bach gan y dylunydd Aled ‘Arth’ Cummins. Cynhyrchwyd yr albym gan Frank Naughton (sydd wedi gweithio gydag artistiaid fel MC Mabon a Geraint Jarman) a Llion Robertson (The Gentle Good, Gildas, Al Lewis).

Meddai Huw: "Mae'r syniadau ar gyfer caneuon Gathering Dusk wedi bod yn datblygu ers i mi ryddhau fy albym gyntaf, ‘Os Mewn Sŵn’. Mae 'na rai syniadau sydd wedi bod yn mwydo'n araf, rhai wedi mynd a dod nôl, rhai eraill dwi methu dioddef wedi eu taflu i'r bin sbwriel am byth, rhai wedi eu trawsnewid i bethau llawer mwy a llawer gwell gyda chymorth cerddorion y band, ac ambell un yn eitha syml a moel." Mae ‘Gathering Dusk’ yn sicr yn perthyn o bell i draddodiad gwerin Cymru, ond mae Huw M yn rhoi côt newydd o baent lliwgar arno. Hyfryd. Hyfryd. Hyfryd.

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