Gwenno & Quinquis, Glasgow review: 'bewitching'
Welsh-Cornish singer Gwenno was on playful and politically provocative form for this Glasgow show, writes Fiona Shepherd
Gwenno & Quinquis, Nice'n'Sleazy, Glasgow ★★★★
Music may be a universal language but its tributaries are many and varied. English remains the preferred commercial conduit for lyrics in pop music but tonight’s performers are dedicated stewards of their respective Celtic tongues and made for a complementary pairing.
Quinquis, aka Breton producer Émilie Quinquis, delivered a studious opening performance from behind her bank of synthesizers, emitting milky arpeggios as part of her classy take on Euro synth pop and subsuming traditional Breton views of life and death into her closing parting song. Like the protagonist of her electronica-infused tale, she was then spirited away too soon to make way for Welsh-Cornish singer Gwenno and her band.
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Like Quinquis, Gwenno’s music is firmly in pop rather than folk territory but utilises the contrasting cadences of Welsh, Cornish and English across a set which drew on diverse inspirations, from Jarvis Cocker to Aphex Twin, 18th century poetry to her favourite London bus route. Seated at a piano with a mini candelabra flickering beside her, she was playful but also at times politically provocative, announcing Calon Peiriant (translating as Heart of the Machine) from debut album Y Dydd Olaf, as inspired by whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
She remained the charismatic focus throughout but her three-piece band matched her bewitching, pure vocals by conjuring dreamy, retro soundscapes and expansive, Pinky Floyd-like incantations from the shadows. Drawing on Kate Bush, her gauzy indie love overture to a computer “doesn't work out” despite the rapturous sound but she surely summoned the neighbourhood felines with her cat noises on new single Y Gath (“the cat”).
Set highlights included the sumptuous title tracks of her third album Tresor (meaning “treasure”) and current release Utopia, the latter inspired by clubbing in Las Vegas during her teenage stint in the Lord of the Dance show. Sticking with the unexpected marriage of music and message, she reserved much of her natural enthusiasm for Eus Keus?, a Cornish Krautrock ode to the joys of cheese.
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