Le Kov

Le Kov ("a place of memory" in Cornish[1]) is the second studio album by Welsh singer-songwriter Gwenno. It was released on 2 March 2018[2][3] on Heavenly Recordings. The first single from the album is "Tir Ha Mor (Land and Sea)". Heavenly Recordings claim Gwenno felt a duty to make her second album entirely in Cornish as a record of the living language.[4]

Le Kov
Studio album by
Gwenno
Released2 March 2018
GenreElectropop, psychedelic pop
LanguageCornish
LabelHeavenly Recordings
ProducerRhys Edwards
Gwenno chronology
Y Dydd Olaf
(2015)		 Le Kov
(2018)
Singles from Le Kov
  1. "Tir Ha Mor"
    Released: 15 January 2018
  2. "Eus Keus?"
    Released: 2 Mar 2018

The songs on Le Kov are written and composed by Gwenno Saunders with help from Rhys Edwards, and features guest vocalist Gruff Rhys on the song "Daromres Y'n Howl".[3] The album also features drum engineering by Gorwel Owen, who has produced albums by both Rhys and his band Super Furry Animals .[1]

Background

Gwenno Saunders grew up in a Cornish speaking family, with her father Tim Saunders writing Cornish poetry. Regarding her upbringing, she noted: "It was like living in a sort of cult of four people, in Riverside in Cardiff. I had no idea about popular culture. Years later, I said to my mum, 'Why didn’t you tell me about David Bowie or people like that?’ And she said that it was all just around, that I was always going to find out about that stuff myself. But it was really annoying for a while, because I’d meet people and have no idea what they were talking about – you know, ‘Who are Pavement?’”[5]

Gwenno was also, in part, inspired to record Le Kov due to a decision by the British government to cut funding towards the Cornish language in 2016: "There’s that argument that I think is really stupid: why do you have to learn Cornish or Welsh, why don’t you learn Mandarin? It’s like everything you do has to have monetary value. I think you have to find the non-monetary value in things.”[5] The album was later credited by the Cornish Language Board with encouraging a record number of students to take exams in the Cornish language during 2018.[6][7]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Exclaim!8/10[10]
The Guardian[11]
Loud and Quiet8/10[12]
MusicOMH[13]
The Times[14]

Le Kov was met with "universal acclaim" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 81 based on 13 reviews.[8] Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 80 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 17 reviews.[15]

Will Hodgkinson of The Times gave the album three out of five stars.[16] Helia Phoenix of Caught by the River praised the album, and linked Le Kov with the world's displaced people,[17] who are forced to abandon their language and culture. Phoenix described the album's music as "psychedelic" and compared Gwenno to Boards of Canada and Jane Birkin.[17] Michael Hann of The Guardian was also positive, giving Le Kov four out of five stars.[18] Hann was dismissive towards Gwenno's Cornish language, but praised the music: "It’s the melodies that will keep people coming back: purposeful and direct, but deliciously blurry, reminiscent of Broadcast in their creation of a psychedelia that looks backwards and forwards simultaneously."[18] The album was nominated in the 2018, AIM Independent Music Awards for 'Best Sophomore Release'.[19] The album was also shortlisted for the Welsh Music Prize. This is the annual music prize awarded for the best album from Wales. [20]

Accolades
Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
The Guardian United Kingdom 50 best albums of 2018[21] 2018 39
Mojo United Kingdom MOJO’s Top 75 Albums of 2018[22] 2018 29
PopMatters United States PopMatters: 70 Best Albums of 2018[23] 2018 61
The Quietus United Kingdom Quietus: Albums of the Year 2018[24] 2018 96
Rough Trade Records United Kingdom Top 100 Albums of the year[25] 2018 34
Uncut Magazine United Kingdom Top 50 Albums of the year[26] 2018 32
Under the Radar United States Under the Radar Top 100 Albums of 2018[27] 2018 37

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Hi A Skoellyas Liv A Dhagrow"5:35
2."Tir Ha Mor"4:10
3."Herdhya"2:49
4."Eus Keus?"5:00
5."Jynn-amontya"5:50
6."Den Heb Taves"6:22
7."Daromres Y'n Howl"3:17
8."Aremorika"3:11
9."Hunros"2:32
10."Koweth Ker"5:42

Charts
Chart (2018) Peak
position
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[28] 13
Scottish Albums (OCC)[29] 98

References
  1. "NEW ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT: Gwenno 'Le Kov'". heavenlyrecordings.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  2. "Gwenno – Le Kov". Heavenly Emporium. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  3. "Le Kov - Gwenno | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  4. "New Album Announcement: Gwenno 'Le Kov'". Heavenlyrecordings.com. 22 November 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  5. Petridis, Alexis. "How an ex-Vegas dancer made the first Cornish-language psych-pop album". theguardian.com. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  6. "Gwenno 'sparks record numbers' in Cornish exams". BBC. 20 October 2018. Retrieved 11 Apr 2019.
  7. Deian Timms. "Beyond Great Powers and Big Labels: Soundtracks to Independence". Planet. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  8. "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  9. Sendra, Tim (March 2018). "Le Kov - Gwenno".
  10. Blinov, Paul (28 February 2018). "Exclaim! Review". Exclaim!. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  11. Hann, Michael (2 March 2018). "Gwenno: Le Kov review". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  12. Waltera, Tom (2 March 2018). "Loud and Quiet Review". Loud and Quiet. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  13. Murphy, John (2 March 2018). "MusicOMH Review". MusicOMH. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  14. Hodgkinson, Will (2 March 2018). "Pop review: Gwenno: Le Kov". The Times. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  16. Hodgkinson, Will (2018-03-02). "Pop review: Gwenno: Le Kov". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  17. "Le Kov | Caught by the River | Caught by the River". www.caughtbytheriver.net. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  18. Hann, Michael (2018-03-02). "Gwenno: Le Kov review – Cornish identity in full-colour psychedelia". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  19. "AIM Independent Music Awards 2018 Nominees Announced | Proper Music Group".
  20. "Manic Street Preachers, Gruff Rhys and Gwenno up for 2018 Welsh music prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  21. "The 50 best albums of 2018". www.theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  22. "MOJO's Top 75 Albums of 2018". www.mojo4music.com. MOJO. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  23. "70 Best Albums of 2018". www.popmatters.com. PopMatters. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  24. "Albums of the Year 2018". thequietus.com. PopMatters. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  25. "Top 100 Albums of the year 2018". www.roughtrade.com. Rough Trade. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  26. "Uncut's Top 50 Albums of 2018". www.uncut.co.uk. Uncut. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  27. "Top 100 Albums of 2018". www.undertheradarmag.com. Under the Radar. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  28. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  29. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
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