Gwenifer Raymond, a gifted guitarist from Wales, began playing the guitar at age eight after being introduced to punk and grunge. Over the years, she performed in various punk bands around the Welsh valleys. Her musical interests later expanded to pre-war blues and Appalachian folk, eventually leading her to the American Primitive genre. Influences include Skip James, John Fahey, Roscoe Holcomb, and John Hurt.
Raymond’s debut album, You Never Were Much of a Dancer, was released on Tompkins Square in 2018 to critical acclaim. Her second album, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, released at the end of 2020, received widespread praise. This album resonated with both old-west fans and left-field/experimental music audiences.
Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain includes eight tracks, all recorded in a basement flat in central Brighton during the COVID-19 lockdown. Despite the pandemic influencing the recording circumstances, it did not impact the album’s compositions.
While Raymond’s Welsh upbringing was not a prominent theme in her first record, it subtly influences the tracks on her second album. She draws from her childhood memories of the Welsh landscape and its folk horror elements to create what she calls “Welsh Primitive” music. For example, tracks on the album reflect scenes like coal trains near her home and the strange lights over the mountain where she grew up. Themes of personal tragedy and the madness of touring also feature prominently.
This album leans more into left-field territory than her debut, with longer, more compositional tracks that still retain folk and blues influences.
Author: Iliana Cabrera
