Melin Melyn

Today, October 19th, Welsh mavericks Melin Melyn share ‘Short Haired Lady’, which closes off the era of their debut EP ‘Blomonj’ released earlier this year and coincides with their first London headline show at The Old Blue Last, on October 21st. 

A highlight of the festival season with stints at EOTR & Green Man, they were praised by The Financial Times, NME, The i, The Line Of Best Fit & more for their effervescent and explosive live performances, which they’re excited to bring to London’s Old Blue Last this Thursday.

 Short Haired Lady (omitted from the aforementioned EP) continues Melin Melyn’s burst of esoteric and psychedelia tinged surf-rock, driven by the narrative lyrics of lead singer Gruff Glyn. Speaking on the track he adds:

“On a cold winters eve I was walking the streets of London feeling a bit blue, and then stepped in some wet sticky chewing gum. I looked up to the sky in distress and found the moon smirking at me. Kind of put things in perspective. The lady in the song came to me in a dream soon after and sometimes pops back into my siestas during a snooze. We had the pleasure of recording this song at Stiwdio Sain - a gem of a studio in Llandwrog where some classic Welsh Language psychedelic folk music was recorded in the 70s.”

 ‘Blomonj’ (a play on words of the dessert ‘Blancmange’) could be the perfect title of a debut EP from the Welsh mavericks: idiosyncratic, hard to nail down but most importantly full of absurdist whimsy and charm and inspired by latest single ‘Jelly Vs Blomonj’. Once again, Melin Melyn have thrown all prior conceptions of their previous sounds out the window returning with, once again, a completely unique dadaist-ballad brimming with Pedal Steel and country-tinged slide guitars that culminates into an almost ‘honky-tonk’ finale.

Hidden behind the cryptic and seemingly inane lyrics  (“Go and run through a wall of cold porridge if you like”) however, is a touching and sentimental metaphor of love, loss and companionship. It’s a testament to the songwriting ability of lead vocalist and chief songwriter Gruff Glyn, who’s ability to take simple and easy to understand lyrical constructs and invert them almost beyond recognition has begun to win him many plaudits among his peer group.

 Recorded in two parts - half in 2020 with Tom Rees (Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard) and Dylan Morgan (DD Darillo, Boy Azooga) producing, the other at Stiwdio Sain in Llandwrog by Llŷr Pari (Omaloma, Palenco) who also mixed the EP - Melin Melyn’s ‘Blomonj’ is less built on individual “songs” and more on weird tales of colourful characters and magical worlds that aren’t in fact that far removed from today’s off-kilter reality. It’s eccentricity at its finest & paradoxically most accessible. The now six-piece are not so much round pegs in square holes as they are determined to throw the whole box out, blurring the line between folk, rock, pop and psychedelia. 

Two tracks are recorded in Welsh: the effervescent indie-rock track ‘Mwydryn’ (supported heavily by BBC 6 Music’s Marc Riley) and jangly-surf rock number ‘Dewin Dwl’, which was praised by NME, DIY, GIgwise, Yuck and more. Also featured on the EP is ‘Lucy’s Odyssey’ is a driving indie-pop-new-wave amalgam that, just as you think you’ve got your head around it, breaks into a jazzy mid tempo break. It also came with a stunning video, hand animated by the band’s resident artist-in-chief Edie Morris.

EP closer ‘Rebecca’ starts off as a swaggering, gritty country number before descending into a saxophone filled post-punk cacophony of Squid proportions. Inspired by the ‘Rebecca Riots’ in 19th Century Wales, the track is a dominant finale, and one that truly needs to be experienced in the live arena. 

Speaking on the EP - lead singer Gruff adds:

“As a perplexed and curious infant, one of the highlights of my day would be finding out what fine dining would be on offer to me at the school canteen. One day, for dessert, a plop of Jelly appeared on my plastic food tray, followed by a plop of Blomonj. So here at the Melin Melyn canteen, on offer today, we have a delicious plop of pink blob, with a side dish of trips to the moon, media mutterings, smoking wizards, cat murderers, cross dressing farmers and devastating heart breaks. Dinner is served.

(Press Release)