Gwenifer Raymond

Welsh-born guitarist Gwenifer Raymond recently released her second album, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, recorded during lockdown. With that challenge firmly out of the way, she speaks to us about her love of American primitive guitar, the magic of the blues, and how she has evolved as a player in her own right

- Glenn Kimpton

Gwenifer Raymond’s rich, powerful solo acoustic instrumental music first took flight with her debut album, You Never Were Much Of A Dancer. A 13-song flurry of acoustic guitar and banjo compositions – very much in the vein of the big hitters of American primitive, John Fahey and Jack Rose – the set was a riveting demonstration of her often-blistering playing. For Gwenifer’s second release, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, she has composed music that feels more personal and confident. Longer pieces unfold in complex forms and worry less about typical structure.

“The first album was the result of spending years playing in [American primitive] style and gathering songs,” she says. “Some of the riffs went back to when I was learning. With the second album, I’d been playing this music for a long time and at lots of shows, so by that point my voice had begun to come out more naturally. Before, I felt like I was trying to do this American primitive music, but with this one I was like, ‘I’m all right with whatever comes out.’” Solo acoustic music is solitary by nature, but the pandemic put paid to Gwenifer’s plans to record the second album in a studio, forcing her to take a homemade approach.

“I had the whole thing ready to record in the studio right as lockdown happened,” she says. “So, instead, I dropped a couple of bucks on some mics – it was money I would’ve spent on studio time – and I recorded it in my bedroom. I intended to take my time over it, but I ended up doing a song or two an evening, in between waiting for the upstairs neighbour’s washing machine [to finish]. I recorded it all over a week and mixed it the following week.”

SOPHISTICATED SIMPLICITY