Gwenifer Raymond

Artist

Gwenifer Raymond
Agent

Andy Halliday
Based

Brighton, UK
Label

Tompkins Square

Images

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⭐⭐⭐⭐ Guardian

⭐⭐⭐⭐ UNCUT

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Guardian

Female computer games programmer / Astrophysics PHD / Welsh Primitive Soloist

“She is legion. This Welsh musician plays really loud and really fast too, like a vengeful bluegrass musician conjuring up roiling fury, then dropping into languorous eddies, switching between paces with pin-sharp precision” Guardian

“Just about anybody with an interest in the new school of American primitive will tell you that Gwenifer Raymond is one of its most promising proponents.” – BandCamp Daily

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Gwenifer Raymond

Wnaeth Gwenifer Raymond dechrau chwarae gitâr pan roedda yn wyth blywddyn oed ar ol wedi bod yn hamlygu yn gyntaf i cerddoriaeth pync a grunge. Ar ôl blynyddoedd o chwarae o amgylch cymoedd Cymru mewn gwisgoedd pync dechreuodd wrando mwy ar cerddoriaeth Appalachian a blŵs cynnar, ac ar ol amser wnaeth hwn arwain i’r chwaraewyr gitâr yn yr arddull ô American Primitive.

Yn 2018 wneath hi llofnodi i’r label recordio Americanaidd ‘Tompkins Square’ a rhyddhau ei halbwm cyntaf ‘You Never Were Much Of A Dancer’ i clod eang. Yn 2020 symudodd ei hail albwm ‘Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain’ rywfait o Americana syth a dechreuodd gymryd mwy o ddylanwad ysbrydol o dirwedd ei mamwlad o Gymru. Efo hatgofion plentyndod o goed arswydus, du yn erbyn yr awyr lwyd a niwl anadl mewn aer oer maw hwn yn arddull o chwarae gitâr y gellid ei gyfeirio ato fel ‘Welsh Primitive’.

Mae Gwenifer wedi chwarae’n helaeth ledled y DU ac Ewrop ac wedi sefydlu ei hun fel un o brif oleuadau’r sîn, ac na ddylid ei cholli o dan unrhyw amgylchiadau.

Gwenifer Raymond began playing guitar at the age of eight shortly after having been first exposed to punk and grunge. After years of playing around the Welsh valleys in various punk outfits she began listening more to pre-war blues musicians as well as Appalachian folk players, eventually leading into the guitar players of the American Primitive genre.

In 2018 she signed to the American label ‘Tompkins Square’ and released her first album ‘You Never Were Much of a Dancer’ to widespread acclaim. In 2020 her second album ‘Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain’ shifted somewhat from straight Americana and started to take more of a spiritual influence from the landscape of her homeland of Wales. Recalling from her childhood memories of spooky trees, black against the grey sky and breath misting in cold air there is present a style of guitar playing that could be referred to as ‘Welsh Primitive’.

On her first tour of the USA, Raymond was gifted a guitar by Henry Kaiser, and recently had a beer named after her sophomore record ‘Strange Lights…’

She has toured extensively throughout the UK and the Europe and has established herself as one of the leading lights of the scene, and not to be missed!

‘“I’ve been blown away by Gwenifer Raymond,” says Jeff Conklin. Josh Rosenthal agrees: “She’s just a fascinating person—a great example of somebody taking the raw elements [of the style] and making them more personal.’ – BandCamp Daily

’Its intricate folk melody is Welsh and Celtic in style but American Old West in practice. The rhythmic patterns mimic the swift dynamics of a fiddle with a country twang. Western music was originally influenced by traditional folk music from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; Raymond’s seamless crossover grows from these historically intersecting roots.’ – Stereogum

Gwenifer has appeared at London Jazz festival, Bridge Festival Eindhoven, Clonkality Festival Cork, Cambridge Folk, WOMAD, Moseley Arts, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues… in December 2023 she will appear at Transmusicales, Rennes, FR

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Gwenifer Raymond