The Gentle Good

Recently shortlisted for this year’s Welsh Music Prize, watch a short film on the making of The Gentle Good’s latest album, Elan, and the landscape and people that inspired it. How he lets the past and present speak through his music is genuinely remarkable. Don’t miss his upcoming Autumn Tour.

Gareth Bonello, aka The Gentle Good, has written an in-depth guide to his new album ‘Elan’ (also featuring audio and video). The album is a psychedelic portrait of Cwm Elan, the Elan Valley in Powys, Wales. It explores the landscape, history, and politics of the area that was flooded at the end of the Victorian era to create a series of reservoirs for drinking water. Out now on Bubblewrap Collective.

The Gentle Good’s latest album, Elan, is a concept album of sorts, a study of the Elan Valley in Powys through music, recorded off-grid in the Cambrian mountains. An admirable creation, it’s a broad and generous soundscape for a beloved area of Wales, containing both music and singing that is diverse, adventurous and rich in character. Gareth Bonello’s most ambitious album so far, this bumper collection is a triumph.

Taken from The Gentle Good’s forthcoming new album, Elan, watch ‘To Be in Summer’, a song about the rural idyll, and a bit of a nod to bands like Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Super Furry Animals.

The Gentle Good shares his latest single, Ten Thousand Acres, an ode to the Elan Valley’s many expressions and a meditation on ownership and our perception of landscape throughout time.

Welsh songwriter and instrumentalist The Gentle Good announces new album Elan, a psychedelic portrait of the Elan Valley in Powys, Wales, and shares his vibrant lead single and our Song of the Day – Tachwedd (Welsh for November).

Cardiff-based songwriter and instrumentalist Gareth Bonello, aka The Gentle Good, is our latest ‘Off the Shelf’ guest, in which we ask artists to present objects from their homes and talk about them. Gareth’s new album, Galargan, is out now on Bubblewrap Collective.

On Galargan, The Gentle Good’s wisdom of Welsh folksong and histories is both reverential and contemporary. Combined with his sensitive arrangements and deep, rich, haunting vocals, it is a beautifully accomplished and irresistibly engaging album.

Thanks to the musicians and poets of the Khasi Hills and Gareth Bonello, we learn of the little-known history between Wales and this area of India. While ‘Sai-thaiñ ki Sur is diverse and broad, it is also a remarkably cohesive and excellent album.

Steeped in the folk traditions of Wales yet fully attuned to the present day, Ruins/Adfeilion is an absorbing, thoughtful and ultimately forward-looking collection of songs which perfectly showcase Gareth’s flawless musicianship and creative vision.

As part of a series of exclusive videos to Folk Radio UK watch The Gentle Good performing Un i Sain Ffagan (One for Saint Fagans) from his forthcoming new album Ruins/Adfeilion, recorded live at The Gate Arts Centre in Cardiff.

Our latest mix is chock full of new music from the likes of Nessi Gomes, Lisa Hannigan, Ruth Theodore, Kaia Kater, The Gentle Good and more plus some vintage tunes from Led Zeppelin (live in Paris), The Amazing Blondel and Tim Hardin.