Album Review: Meilir - In Tune
Ahhhh...North Wales - A place where I've spent the majority of my 40 years on this planet and that still sucks me back into it's gravitational pull. A place so unique it inspires creativity from Caernarfon to Caergwrle, from Bangor to Buckley; a sparse and desolate muse to many an artist.
One such artist is Meilir Tomos, who grew up in Flintshire. A classically trained pianist as a child, Meilir soon grew frustrated with the conventions and artistic limitations of the classical world. After moving on to Cardiff, he co-founded critically acclaimed duo Manchuko before going it solo. It's been a decade or so since Meilir made that step and despite a couple of E.Ps and singles - the arrival of this album, by his own admission, has been long overdue.
With the help of producer Charlie Francis (R.E.M, The High Llamas, Sweet Baboo) Meilir has created an album of complex, thought-provoking compositions that take repeated listens to begin to understand. First track 'It Begins' builds around a beautiful piano riff and rapid firing drums. Meilir's soaring vocals are haunting and the track mutates with darkwave synth sounds before abruptly ending for maximum impact - as ambitious an opener as you're likely to hear this year.
Title track 'In Tune' has the kind of guitar arpeggio that melts the hardest heart -similar to Radiohead's 'Let Down' in tone. Gid Goundrey from Gulp and Ghostlawns was enlisted to play on the track as Meilir stated - "I can't play the guitar like him, but I knew that was the sound I wanted.." The track evolves into swirling Sigur Ros-sounding monster with Meiler's vocals intertwining with themselves - almost creating another instrumental sound in the process.
An undoubted highlight of the album is 'Glasshouse' - a track that really highlights the strength of Meilir's vocals. The foundations of simple piano and what sounds like a ticking clock, allow his voice to take centre stage where previously it was more obscured or less prominent in the mix. A track of two halves - 'Glasshouse' shifts a gear in the last couple of minutes with an ominous and relentless synth that leads to a satisfying crescendo. It's up there with anything Son Lux has created in recent years.
Single 'Ydy'r Ffordd yn Glir' is a playful affair that cements Meilir's place with the likes of Gwenno and Kelly Lee Owens, as leading lights in electronic experimentation in Wales and beyond. It's perhaps a surprise this is the only Welsh language track on the album - but gives it more credence for being so. It's the most minimal track on the album in terms of instrumentation, revolving as it does around a wind chime - before exploding into life within the final minute.
'Music for Typewriter' is a live favourite which sees the hypnotic use of a typewriter as percussion in an extraordinary electronic ballad. The effect is nothing short of spectacular and could easily have found itself on 'Kid A' had it come from Thom Yorke's mind.
Of course, the use of such unusual accompaniment is nothing new. Pere Ubu used smashed crockery on first album 'Sentimental Journey' and perhaps more pertinent in influence here - John Cage used phono cartridges, toothpicks and pipe cleaners on 'Variations II' - however, Meilir comes into his own here; creating a piece that juxtaposes new and old technology seemlessly.
The back end of the album doesn't relinquish it's quality in order for a 'big finish'; which is always a temptation on a debut album. 'Four Leaf Clover' is a twisted Viennese waltz that has echoes of another classically-trained experimentalist Soap & Skin about it. Closing track 'This Moment' is Meilir at his most brittle vocally and plays with electronic glitches throughout; it ends the album in an effectively sombre way.
'In Tune' is like one of those Magic Eye puzzles that used to intrigue us all so much in the 90s; not everyone will see beyond the surface, but with continued concentration and listening the true, more impressive vision is revealed.
'In Tune' is digitally released on December 4th and available to download and stream on all major streaming platforms. A physical release is scheduled for March 2021 via Gwdihw Records.
The video for the single 'Ydy'r Ffordd Yn Glir' and the links to the album presave and Meilir's socials are below.
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