Le Kov

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Le Kov
Studio album by
Gwenno
Released2 March 2018
GenreElectropop, psychedelic pop
LanguageCornish
LabelHeavenly Recordings
ProducerRhys Edwards
Gwenno chronology
Y Dydd Olaf
(2015) 		Le Kov
(2018) 		Tresor
(2022)
Singles from Le Kov
  1. "Tir Ha Mor"
    Released: 15 January 2018
  2. "Eus Keus?"
    Released: 2 Mar 2018

Le Kov ("a place of memory" in Cornish[1]) is the second studio album by Welsh singer-songwriter Gwenno. It was released on 2 March 2018[2][3] on Heavenly Recordings. The first single from the album is "Tir Ha Mor (Land and Sea)". Heavenly Recordings claim Gwenno felt a duty to make her second album entirely in Cornish as a record of the living language.[4]

The songs on Le Kov are written and composed by Gwenno Saunders with help from Rhys Edwards, and features guest vocalist Gruff Rhys on the song "Daromres Y'n Howl".[3] The album also features drum engineering by Gorwel Owen, who has produced albums by both Rhys and his band Super Furry Animals .[1]

Background

Gwenno Saunders grew up in a Cornish speaking family, with her father Tim Saunders writing Cornish poetry. Regarding her upbringing, she noted: "It was like living in a sort of cult of four people, in Riverside in Cardiff. I had no idea about popular culture. Years later, I said to my mum, 'Why didn’t you tell me about David Bowie or people like that?’ And she said that it was all just around, that I was always going to find out about that stuff myself. But it was really annoying for a while, because I’d meet people and have no idea what they were talking about – you know, ‘Who are Pavement?’”[5]

Gwenno was also, in part, inspired to record Le Kov due to a decision by the British government to cut funding towards the Cornish language in 2016: "There’s that argument that I think is really stupid: why do you have to learn Cornish or Welsh, why don’t you learn Mandarin? It’s like everything you do has to have monetary value. I think you have to find the non-monetary value in things.”[5] The album was later credited by the Cornish Language Board with encouraging a record number of students to take exams in the Cornish language during 2018.[6][7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Exclaim!8/10[10]
The Guardian[11]
Loud and Quiet8/10[12]
MusicOMH[13]
The Times[14]

Le Kov was met with "universal acclaim" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 81 based on 13 reviews.[8] Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 80 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 17 reviews.[15]

Will Hodgkinson of The Times gave the album three out of five stars.[16] Helia Phoenix of Caught by the River praised the album, and linked Le Kov with the world's displaced people,[17] who are forced to abandon their language and culture. Phoenix described the album's music as "psychedelic" and compared Gwenno to Boards of Canada and Jane Birkin.[17] Michael Hann of The Guardian was also positive, giving Le Kov four out of five stars.[18] Hann was dismissive towards Gwenno's Cornish language, but praised the music: "It’s the melodies that will keep people coming back: purposeful and direct, but deliciously blurry, reminiscent of Broadcast in their creation of a psychedelia that looks backwards and forwards simultaneously."[18] The album was nominated in the 2018, AIM Independent Music Awards for 'Best Sophomore Release'.[19] The album was also shortlisted for the Welsh Music Prize. This is the annual music prize awarded for the best album from Wales. [20]

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
The Guardian United Kingdom 50 best albums of 2018[21] 2018 39
Mojo United Kingdom MOJO’s Top 75 Albums of 2018[22] 2018 29
PopMatters United States PopMatters: 70 Best Albums of 2018[23] 2018 61
The Quietus United Kingdom Quietus: Albums of the Year 2018[24] 2018 96
Rough Trade Records United Kingdom Top 100 Albums of the year[25] 2018 34
Uncut Magazine United Kingdom Top 50 Albums of the year[26] 2018 32
Under the Radar United States Under the Radar Top 100 Albums of 2018[27] 2018 37

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Hi A Skoellyas Liv A Dhagrow"5:35
2."Tir Ha Mor"4:10
3."Herdhya"2:49
4."Eus Keus?"5:00
5."Jynn-amontya"5:50
6."Den Heb Taves"6:22
7."Daromres Y'n Howl"3:17
8."Aremorika"3:11
9."Hunros"2:32
10."Koweth Ker"5:42

Charts

Chart (2018) Peak
position
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[28] 13
Scottish Albums (OCC)[29] 98

References

  1. ^ a b "NEW ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT: Gwenno 'Le Kov'". heavenlyrecordings.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Gwenno – Le Kov". Heavenly Emporium. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Le Kov - Gwenno | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  4. ^ "New Album Announcement: Gwenno 'Le Kov'". Heavenlyrecordings.com. 22 November 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b Petridis, Alexis. "How an ex-Vegas dancer made the first Cornish-language psych-pop album". theguardian.com. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Gwenno 'sparks record numbers' in Cornish exams". BBC. 20 October 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  7. ^ Deian Timms. "Beyond Great Powers and Big Labels: Soundtracks to Independence". Planet. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  9. ^ Sendra, Tim (March 2018). "Le Kov - Gwenno".
  10. ^ Blinov, Paul (28 February 2018). "Exclaim! Review". Exclaim!. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  11. ^ Hann, Michael (2 March 2018). "Gwenno: Le Kov review". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  12. ^ Waltera, Tom (2 March 2018). "Loud and Quiet Review". Loud and Quiet. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  13. ^ Murphy, John (2 March 2018). "MusicOMH Review". MusicOMH. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  14. ^ Hodgkinson, Will (2 March 2018). "Pop review: Gwenno: Le Kov". The Times. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Album of the Year Review". Album of the Year. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  16. ^ Hodgkinson, Will (2 March 2018). "Pop review: Gwenno: Le Kov". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  17. ^ a b "Le Kov | Caught by the River | Caught by the River". www.caughtbytheriver.net. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  18. ^ a b Hann, Michael (2 March 2018). "Gwenno: Le Kov review – Cornish identity in full-colour psychedelia". the Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  19. ^ "AIM Independent Music Awards 2018 Nominees Announced | Proper Music Group".
  20. ^ "Manic Street Preachers, Gruff Rhys and Gwenno up for 2018 Welsh music prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  21. ^ "The 50 best albums of 2018". www.theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  22. ^ "MOJO's Top 75 Albums of 2018". www.mojo4music.com. MOJO. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  23. ^ "70 Best Albums of 2018". www.popmatters.com. PopMatters. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  24. ^ "Albums of the Year 2018". thequietus.com. PopMatters. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  25. ^ "Top 100 Albums of the year 2018". www.roughtrade.com. Rough Trade. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  26. ^ "Uncut's Top 50 Albums of 2018". www.uncut.co.uk. Uncut. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  27. ^ "Top 100 Albums of 2018". www.undertheradarmag.com. Under the Radar. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  28. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  29. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
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