GENTLE GOOD,THE - Ruins/Adfeilion (Sealed) (CD)

October sees the return of acclaimed Cardiff singer-songwriter and folk musician Gareth Bonello, also known as The Gentle Good. A collaborator of a great many beloved artists, including Cate Le Bon, Richard James (Gorky's Zygotic Mynci) and Welsh Music Prize winner Georgia Ruth, Bonello's fourth album Ruins/Adfeilion is one that's title alone serves best to reflect the disparate themes within. Although not represented by a single concept, the songs have common themes of history, identity and social commentary. The title refers to a realisation that there is no true freedom to make the world as we would choose, but instead have to live amongst the ruins of previous generations. Some of these ruins are beautiful links to our past, providing a sense of place and cultural identity for instance, whilst others are dangerous obstacles that hinder our progress. As the follow-up to 2013's Y Bardd Anfarwol (The Immortal Bard) - an ambitious intercontinental project during which Bonello travelled to Chengdu, China, to create a project combining both Welsh and Chinese traditions - Ruins/Adfeilion looks much closer to home, but with no lesser global outlook. Gwen Lliw'r Lili (Gwen colour of the Lilly) is a fitting album opener - being a traditional Welsh folk song from the Maria Jane Williams Collection, Ancient National Airs of Gwent and Morgannwg (1844) - and an outward statement on the influence that the continuing influence of Welsh folk music on his writing. The guitar instrumental Un i Sain Ffagan (One for Saint Fagans), for instance, is Bonello's own ode to his former place of employment, Saint Fagans Natural History Museum, and the spot where he himself first discovered traditional Welsh music. Many of the songs featured here pay tribute to the past whilst others address, in very direct terms, contemporary issues