Chris Weeks: Gwynt, Glaw, Myfyrio
Chris Weeks

Leading up to the release of the full-length album Contemplation Moon on Nibbana/Tigerbeat6, Chris Weeks issued a trilogy of EPs that he composed and recorded during the first three months of 2013: Formeg:; The Ebb & Flow; and Gwynt, Glaw, Myfyrio. Fittingly, the latter's title translates as Wind, Rain, Reflection, given that a week of severe weather kept Weeks hunkered down in his studio in the Welsh hills to create the twenty-minute work. The result is a deeply textured ambient-drone setting heavy on field recordings and tonal shimmer and of generally peaceful demeanour and introspective character.

After a low-pitched, rain-soaked drone inaugurates the piece, other tones enter, extending the musical terrain and expanding upon it dynamically until it turns into a slowly swelling and advancing mass of grainy textures and organ-like tones. The wind and water sounds are so prominent within the mix, one suspects that a microphone might have been placed mere inches away from the elements in question. A second section ensues nine minutes into the piece when Weeks amplifies the musical dimension by giving greater emphasis to the shimmering tones. While the latter elements sound as if they were guitar-generated, it's also possible that Weeks used electronics and synthesizers to produce the musical content. The work's final phase finds Weeks shifting the focus to field recordings with the sounds of footsteps and bird species audible within the mix. In truth, Gwynt, Glaw, Myfyrio doesn't present on sonic terms anything that hasn't been heard before on other ambient soundscaping recordings, but there's also no questioning the high level of craft on display, specifically how effectively Weeks assembled the core elements into the work's final long-form presentation.

June 2013