Mr Huw - 'Llond Lle Hwrs A Lladron' (Copa) Released 17/09/07

Huw is a very common name in Wales. Mr Huw however, is far from your average Huw. On first listen you don’t know whether he is talented because he’s eccentric or eccentric because he’s talented. Either way ‘Llond Lle Hwrs A Lladron’ (‘Loads of Whores and Thieves’) is an off the wall journey into a world that would make a Welsh teacher stutter like a middle aged man taking a sex education class. Wry observations are offset with childlike melodies. Some boys measure their indieness by their new trainers and suitably bedhead hair but Mr Huw takes the term independent back to basics. Recorded on a 8 track in the middle of a graveyard and Snowdonia between May 2006 and March 2007 this 14 track debut album may stretch your knowledge of Welsh to the limit - but the lyrics are worth preserving with. In fact, ‘Llond Lle Hwrs A Lladron’ is so darkly humorous that it deserves to be known and understood by anyone with a love of music.
 
Huw Owen’s vocals have a friendliness of a bloke down the pub who only talks to you when you’re both wrecked drunk. Strangeness is mixed with a sense of belonging and humour. The title track, about a pub he drank in has sense of electronic seediness that’s so palpable that you can almost feel your feet sticking the floor. The acoustic guitar in the chorus combined with the repetition of the title turns the melody on it’s head and soon singing about whores is up there with ‘Sospan Fach.’
 
The slide guitar and handclaps of ‘Gwyneb Dod’ (‘Cum Face’) which was originally released on label AM last year, similarly takes a adult topic and makes it sound as innocent as lambs frolicking in a field. It’s easy to hear why he’s loved by Huw Stephens and why he won a RAP Award. ‘Swyd Y Bres’ (Shake Your Money) has a lazy brass refrain that lulls you into a false sense of security as Huw sings about doing terrible things to your Gran unless you give him some money. The track seems to embody everything that’s good about Mr Huw as an artist. Even if you haven’t got a clue what he’s singing about the melody stands up and opens your skull with more skill than Sylar on Heroes.
 
The breathy ethereal vocals of Mared Lenny (Swci Boscawen) feature on a tale of divorce following her husband’s indiscretions, which works on par with Space’s ‘Ballad Of Tom Jones’. This solo venture by one third of Kentucky AFC has a lofi charm on many different levels. It has engaging melodies using a veritable smorgasbord of instruments which probably includes household objects. The slower, more ‘serious’ songs like ‘Artist Solo’ have a basic bareness, which fits in nicely with the feeling of the album as a whole. Given that ‘Llond Lle A Hwrs A Lladron’ spans 14 songs with topics ranging from digging shallow graves for your family to becoming a shark and killing surfers the fact that it got made at all’s a remarkable thing.
 
The fact that it’s been done with such attention to detail and pure enthusiasm is evidence that you can be gritty without being miserable. Fellow Welshman Nicky Wire, please take note.