Gwenllian Anthony of Welsh language figureheads Adwaith has gone solo, releasing her debut album Uma this month as Gwen. She talks to Jason Machlab about the freedom – and fear – in going your own way, and laughing off the industry plant rumours which inspired her single Achub Yr Iaith.
Your new single, Pop!, is about having your dreams realised. Having achieved so much with your career, what are those dreams now?
I’m way more focused now on just creating art that I really love, and I guess that’s what Pop! is about. As you get more successful, there’s more people that join your team, and more voices to listen to. It can be quite easy to be swayed, or be told “you need to write that single”. Since starting the solo project, I’m not really as focused on big goals anymore – obviously the big gigs and articles and all that is really nice, a good ego stroker if you need it – the stuff that really excites me, really uplifts me, is being able to have my fingers in a lot of pies and try a lot of different things creatively.
I’d love to do an orchestral album. It’s not something I’ve ever delved into. I’d love to do more art; I want to get into painting. I want to explore so many different creative outlets. Being able to do that is probably my biggest dream.
How is the process of creating music different while solo than it is with the band?
Starting out is quite similar, because I’m just playing around with ideas, but then I get to a point where I don’t have anyone to bounce ideas off, which can be a bit scary. If I got stuck, I started thinking, “God… can I not do it? Am I just not creative enough to do a song on my own?” But that’s just not the case.
Doing it solo has allowed me to really be creatively free. I don’t have to pass any ideas by anyone. I’m taking what’s in my brain, putting it down and recording it, and then that’s it. I’ve been working with Steff [Steffan Pringle], who produced it with me, but all the songs are 100% me. There’s no people to say, “no, I don’t like that,” so it’s going on the song. When I’m old and I look back at what I’ve done, I’ll be so happy that I’ve stayed true to myself and made art I’m really happy with. I’m not going to be worrying if a certain 6 Music DJ didn’t play me.
Your single Achub Yr Iaith was written in response to vicious rumours that Adwaith were industry plants… what was the story behind that exactly?
[Laughs] I think initially when we heard the rumour that we were created by the Welsh Government, it was quite funny. It’s a ludicrous rumour! In fact, it’s a level above: “You’re a government plant”. It’s just so stupid. Once we thought about it too, it’s also quite misogynistic because they’re reducing all of our successes to that.
Was this whole experience something that’s changed your self-perception?
It’s definitely changed my attitude, and how I exist in the industry. The Welsh scene is very small and there’s always going to be people like that. People call Panic Shack industry plants, when they’re working-class girls from the Valleys. Although it did anger me, I’m trying to use those feelings and make something creative with them, and not get too worked up about it. We were obviously getting so much success that someone thought, “Gosh, it must be the government that’s done this…” If you look at it that way, I’ll take it. We must have been doing pretty well.
What do you see as the next boundaries for Welsh language music to broach?
Even since we started Adwaith there’s been such a shift in just seeing and hearing more Welsh language music on the radio or on TV or whatever. That was really out of reach when we started.
It’s super important to get more representation for Welsh language music across Wales, UK-wide, internationally. A lot of people outside of Wales don’t even know the language exists, when we’ve got a whole scene that is thriving, and decades and decades of amazing Welsh language music. More representation, more Welsh language acts, and more Welsh acts in general. Bring those bands to a new audience.
Gwen’s Uma album is released by Libertino on Fri 23 Oct.
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words JASON MACHLAB
