NEW ALBUM
'surrender' by Sianed
                                                                         
   OUT NOW
                                                            on
Sound&Language label

With an upbringing in Welsh Choral singing and Cerddant and Penillion
singing of the Eisteddfodau
Sianed left Wales and travelled the world researching vocal techniques.
 From Egypt to Madagascar, from East Africa to Kyrgistan, from Kazakstan
to Mongolia
Her songs weave an intoxicating mix of influences

Strident Vocal Harmonies / Interweaving Melodies / Furious Violins and
Flutes
Distorted Electric Guitar / Funked up Bass / Jungle Grooves

Songs of Sadness Madness and Gladness

          REVIEW
A debut release according to the accompanying press release, which may
seem a little strange to listeners long familiar with Sianed Jones’s
violin and vocal work with flautist Clive Bell, guitarist Peter Cusack
and others in Kahondo Style, and in the excellent trio Slant with poet
Cris Cheek and turntable artist Philip Jeck. A new and welcome
departure anyway – Surrender is a strong set of nine songs with
imaginative arrangements for a fluent group with Sianed at their heart.
           She’s a widely travelled musician and has listened openly,
assimilating vocal techniques and expanding her sense of possible
musical relationships. That’s reflected here in a stream of global
echoes draped around slinky beats, helping carry the political and
ethical weight of words she quotes from Virginia Wolf: “As a woman I
have no country / as a woman I have no country / as a woman my country
is the Whole world.”
           This declaration reverberates through the gesture of
identity made in two songs one with a reggae pulse, which have texts in
Welsh. Stepping back into English, Sianed sings of love and desire
without cliché or clumsiness and that’s rare enough. Cris Cheeks’s
text “What’s The Time Mr Wolf?” addresses the events of 11 September
2001 in a way that’s moving and thought provoking. Surrender allows
numerous musics to cross-fertilise while words and wordless vocalising
transmit sensitivity and intelligence. Anyone seriously interested in
the current state of song should pay it the attention it deserves.

Julian Cowley
The Wire 2005

To order a copy send a cheque for £10.50 to Sianed Jones, 85 London
Road South, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0AS
For more information e-mail [log in to unmask]