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- Summary: The third full-length release for the Welsh folk rock band includes a disc featuring non-Welsh language interpretations of its songs by such artists as Peter Gabriel, Rhys Ifans, and Maxine Peake.
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- Record Label: Real World
- Genre(s): Pop/Rock, International
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 2 out of 7
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Mixed: 5 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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MojoApr 28, 2016There's little point in denying trip-hop's influence here--the bass on Yr Olaf is undiluted Massive attack-- yet Lisa Jen's vocals and Martin Hoyland's gitar create an eerie reverie all of their own. [Jun 2016, p.90]
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UncutApr 28, 2016Lisa Jen's ethereal voice still swoops beguilingly over Martin Hoyland's expansive arrangements, fusing harps, dulcimers and guitars with dub beats, loops and pounding bass. [Jun 2016, p.67]
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Apr 28, 2016In concert, the results of these expanded horizons will sit among an enhanced and emboldened set list. On record, though, this feels an uneven entry; too self-conscious in its attempt to transcend the expectations of contemporary Welsh language music.
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Apr 28, 2016This cool, classy set is accompanied by an ambitious if uneven spoken-word album, in which writers and musicians reinterpret the songs in English.
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May 2, 2016Welsh-language band 9Bach’s third album takes simple elements--Lisa Jên’s ethereal vocals, piano, bass and percussion, harp and hammer dulcimer--and weaves complex patterns.
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May 20, 2016Their previous album Tincian revolutionised new Welsh language music and won Best Album at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for its troubles. The follow-up is equally as dark with a dystopian edge that suggests we’re all doomed. Yet there is a salvation of sorts in the band’s glorious three part female harmonies and in lead singer Lisa Jên’s centrifugal force-of-nature presence.
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Q MagazineApr 28, 2016The songs become more conventionally meaningful, but less mysterious [on the disc of English interpretations]. [Jun 2016, p.108]