The Gentle Good – Galargan (Album Review)

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Cardiff-based songwriter and instrumentalist Gareth Bonello, better known by the stage name The Gentle Good, explores traditional song and folklore of his native Wales in his fifth studio album. Galargan is a poignant and profoundly moving intimate set list that Bonello curates through his broader knowledge of the Welsh tradition and folk song.

Galargan, roughly translated from the Welsh galar (meaning grief or mourning) and cân (meaning song), is a beautifully realised and delicate treat. Bonello has a rare talent for emotionally led renditions of traditional folk songs and a keen ear for the history of the collections as well as the folk song sound of the 1960s and 70s.

In contrast to his work with the multi-instrumental Khasi-Cymru Collective, Galargan is a stripped-back affair –  just Bonello and his guitar, with occasional cello flourishes, all layered around simple but effective arrangements. But you don’t need anything else when the sound is this good.

The album originated during the pandemic, in Bonello’s kitchen in Cardiff and during a solo stay in a cottage in Cwm Elan, and is flavoured by the aura of isolation and sadness but also the soothing hope of escapism. As Bonello notes, the album was born “when the world was locked up, when things like loss, despair and fear felt more real than ever. When loved ones disappeared. When anger mixed with the water, and everyone felt like they were screaming into the darkness. In periods like this, when there are no words, the old songs suggest themselves: always relevant, always with something new to reveal.”

It is an album that takes grief as a central theme but is also infused with mature hope and the acceptance of change. It’s a perceptive, at times melancholic, but always a fruitfully melodic listen. Bonello yet again proves himself a talented custodian and transcriber of tradition here. His interpretations merge both traditional and more contemporary melodies in an irresistible reflection of Welsh folk song and folk histories more generally. It’s an appealing combination.

Several songs on the album are from the Meredydd Evans and Phyllis Kinney collections held at the National Library of Wales, such as the opener, Pan own i ar foreddydd, which plays on the traditional Y Bore Glas and the tune Tritharawiad Trichwmwd. It is a tune which also, as Bonello notes, has strong similarities to the English tune Early One Morning. The song opens gently with Bonello’s guitar and soft, warm vocals. It is a fine introduction to the album, presenting Bonello’s acute taste for traditional songs and velvety, reflective melodies. There is a very welcome taste of Nick Drake here, especially in Bonello’s harmonious, fragile vocals.

A somewhat more foreboding song, Nid wyf yn llon (I’m Not Merry), also from the Meredydd Evans and Phyllis Kinney collections, was originally collected from the singing of a prisoner in Dolgellau jail. It is poignant that the song narrates the despair of a sole figure locked in a cell, considering the origins of Galargan. It’s an incredibly pitiful song that speaks easily across the centuries. In Bonello’s hands, it is a powerful lament, made more so by the modest arrangement and intimacy of guitar and voice.

An album highlight is Mae’r Ddaear yn glasu or May, or Summer Carol, a spring-inspired song historically popular at May Day Festivals. Accompanied by cello, it is cordially bright and pleasing, with some evocative and timeless guitar from Bonello. The song and arrangements feel almost eternal – its tone recalls the singer songwriters of the 60s and 70s folk club revivals, and perhaps because of this, there is a sense of comfort or recognisability and nostalgia in its presentation. It is a genuinely snug and reassuring listen with a crucially prescient humanitarian message:

The great fertile earth and its treasure are enough,
to feed its inhabitants with plenty every day,
if only we men were in a peaceful state,
and could love each other with one heart

Three tunes, Erddigan y Pibydd Coch, Tri a Chwech and Marwnad yr Heliwr (‘The Red Piper’s Tune’, ‘Three and Six’, ‘The Hunter’s Lament’) follow in Set Bob, a tribute to the musician Robert Evans. Evans and the singer Mary-Anne Roberts used to perform Welsh medieval music in their band Bragod, and Bonello manages to capture that sense of the medieval here with a sprightly set of tunes.

Pan own y gwanwyn presents another mellow and introspective song, this time from Maria Jane Williams’ collection, ‘Ancient National Airs of Gwent and Morgannwg’ (1842); likewise, on the traditional Beth yw‘r haf i mi?, set to one of the most famous Welsh traditional tunes, the narrator sings of the loss of his lover and how his lack of respite, even though set in summer, brings ‘a bleak winter full of tears’.

Y Bachgen Main (‘The Slender Lad’), is an early nineteenth-century ballad learnt from the singing of Julie Murphy (Fernhill). It’s a self-proclaimed favourite of Bonello’s and a song about a mother’s disapproval of a daughter’s lover for the young man of the title. Bonello presents the song simply but with a dark mood perfectly manifested through a brooding cello.

The album closes with Dafydd y Garreg Wen from the pen of David Owen (1712-1741), who, legend has it, called for his harp on his deathbed and composed the tune in his final moments. The words were added later by John Ceiriog Huws, but Bonello’s focus here is on the melody. A ruminating cello accompanies Bonello’s guitar, and the temperament of the fading light is profoundly sensed. It makes for a touching and powerful closure to a genuinely affecting album.

The Gentle Good’s wisdom of Welsh folksong and histories is both reverential and contemporary, highlighting the vitality of the tradition, while his sensitive arrangements, layered with rich cello and timeless fingerstyle guitar, are palpably ageless. Combined with his deep, rich, haunting vocals, Galargan is a beautifully accomplished and irresistibly engaging album.

Garlargan is released on 8th September via Bubblewrap Collective

Available on Digitial / CD / and Limited Edition Heavyweight Black Vinyl

Order via https://thegentlegood.com/product/galargan/ | Bandcamp

The Gentle Good is on tour later this month. For details and tickets, visit: https://thegentlegood.com/gigs/