ALBUM REVIEW: Elfshot – Gwenwyn

The world building of some musicians is pivotal to their work making sense. In the case of GWENWYN, the realm they create in Elfshot is as rich as any poem, story or game. There’s a distinct audible character to the themes, allowing you to fully submerge in the depths of your imagination.

Mysterious, and with an instant sense of the uncanny and unearthly, things tighten up and shake themselves loose in Elven Malice. The arpeggiated twinkles, reverse delay and hollow bass tones all mix together to set the eerie scene. The slightly shadowy progressions leave a feeling that mischief and magic are afoot and you’ll have keep your wits about you not to be swept up and carried away.

Underground Forge glimmers and shines like gold and bronze in the gleam of a fire, the haunting little taps and smacks against the swell of ringing notes. It’s a symphony of magic, compressed and hidden in places, with an air that not all is as it seems. There’s a story in every track here, and it’s lively that so much has been poured into each piece that you can let your imagination journey through so many possibilities. For example, Out Little Spears isn’t half as violent sounding as its title infers, and is actually almost hesitant with rasping strings and ever-present tinkering sounds. There’s a shy melody that feels closer to a lament than anything else.

Conversely, Red Dead – Nettle is probably the most sinister tune, with malicious whistles and haunting drones. It’s both alluring and leaves you feeling cautious at the same time, like the music has bad intentions for you if you allow yourself to indulge in it too long. Even The Fairy Doctor has such an unusual timbre and ever so subtly things will flutter from calming and warm to distinctly off-kilter and unsettling.

While the album is entirely its own thing, you can absolutely draw parallels to contemporaries and more overarching themes within the real world within these melodies. Those Mighty Women could have an in as part of some of ZERO7’s more synthy pieces. It’s genuinely gentle and inspiring, allowing your to contemplate on who these women might be, and the battles they toiled against. Whose memory has conjured this bittersweet melody? This is something you can write in your own mind. All this to say that there’s so much to inspire your more magical side within Elfshot, you could write a hundred stories to each track on this record.

GWENWYN‘s use of music to create this completely instrumental world which is so rich and lush is very accomplished. A world that you can just as easily lose yourself to as be lost in, there’s huge repeat value in this unsettling sonic landscape of Elfshot.

Rating: 7/10

Elfshot is out now via Fiadh Productions.