gwenno – tresor

Identity is formally recognised through lengthy paperwork and bureaucratic, disengaged processes. Applications, visas, green cards: each composes what is allowed to be considered a form of ‘identity’. For Cornish-speaking, Welsh psychonaut Gwenno Saunders, the ‘self’ is a jagged, highland landscape. It is captivating throughout ‘Tresor’ to consider the artist’s own journey of self-rediscovery, breathed through the language of her family and youth. The record is sparse yet vast, consumed like wondrous scenery. Gwenno’s components sound as though they have been delicately whittled by historically engrained technique: the stories told rotate around an intimate, psychic experience that ripples deep from the past through to the future. 

23/30

A favourite: ‘Anima’

‘Tresor’ is out now via Heavenly Recordings.