Mellt - 'Diwrnod Arall'

Welsh slacker-rock trio Mellt share powerful new single ahead of their second album.

Coming from Cardiff, Wales, is some of the most exciting and innovative Welsh-language music from recent years, the young trio Mellt’s newest release “Diwrnod Arall” is a riveting indie take on modern technology and the anxieties of the modern world.

Formerly winning prizes such as Welsh Language Album of the Year in 2018, the band is composed of three childhood friends, Ellis Walker on bass and vocals, Glyn Rhys-James on guitar and vocals, and Jacob Hodges on drums.

With “Diwrnod Arall”, which translates into “another day” in English, the band delve into a sense of nostalgia, calling back to an era before their time where everything seemed simpler. Rhys-James and his fellow bandmates adhered to a simplistic and pure approach to recording which includes nothing but the main instrumentation, with little attention to adding layers of any other form.

In a way, the lyrics never seem to approach the topic in question in a tone of knowing the solution to any of these problems. Rhys-James admitted to an element of humour added, as “it sounds quite serious” yet contains lines that “take the edge off of it”.

The instrumentation on this single sounds as grandiose as the slack-rockers have shown with their past releases, with some real liveliness on the higher pitched guitar riffs, nicely slotting atop the melodic rhythms of Walker’s strong basslines, and Hodges’ energetic drumming, the minimalistic approach to the production allowing much space for every part to shine on its own.

Mellt are releasing their second full-length album in October this year via Clwb Music, and are a voice to be reckoned with when it comes to up-and-coming Cool Cymru movement, bringing Welsh language music to the forefront of the indie music scene.

Words by Jay Cohen