Two decades on from its quiet release, Sounds of Nant Y Benglog remains one of the Welsh underground's most elusive artefacts. Released on August 5th, 2002 via Ankstmusik, the LP was the second—and seemingly final—offering from Infinity Chimps, the enigmatic side project of John Lawrence, formerly of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci.
If Gorky’s flirted with psychedelic folk whimsy, Infinity Chimps dives headlong into it, trading in melodies wrapped in mist, motifs half-remembered, and instrumental sketches that evoke a deep sense of place. The place in question: Nant Y Benglog, a real and mythic corner of North Wales, rendered here as dreamscape.
Opening with delicate acoustic guitar and a true 70s feel, the album sets a tone that feels both personal and unspoken. Titles like “Pen Llithrig y Wrach” and “Drws y Coed” ground the album in Welsh topography and folklore, though the record rarely speaks directly—it's more a collection of moods, scenes, and shadows. Lawrence’s production favours restraint: gentle yet beautiful guitars, occasional pedal steel, whispered electronics and harmonies. Songs appear like weather patterns: fleeting, shifting, unknowable.
One of the most immediate tracks, “97 Days,” offers a vague pulse of early-post-Syd Pink Floyd, with rhythm and light, while “Universe” feels like it’s evaporating as it plays. The instrumental choices suggest a musician working on instinct, not audience expectation. It’s as if the record wasn’t meant to be found, but stumbled upon.
What’s most striking is how little fanfare this album received. There are virtually no reviews, no interviews, and minimal trace of its existence beyond collector circles and a handful of digital listings. That absence only adds to its mystique. For fans of exploratory, lo-fi folk, Sounds of Nant Y Benglog is a hidden gem from an artist mid-transition—between the band he left and the solo career he would eventually embrace.
In hindsight, it prefigures the direction Lawrence would take on Songs from the Precipice (2015) and Narcissus Paradox (2019): reflective, regional, uncommercial, but rich with feeling.
★★★★☆
The Hunt for Meaning is a bold and eccentric concept album from Welsh experimentalist MC Mabon. Out today on Ankstmusik, it follows the fictional character Iago Prydderch on a surreal, genre-bending quest for existential clarity.
Fusing Welsh and English lyrics, Mabon delivers a mashup of downbeat electronics, American rock textures, and oddball pop sensibilities. The standout single, People Are So Stupid, sets the tone—cynical, humorous, and unpredictably catchy.
Songs like The Ballad of MC Barley Crusher showcase the album’s playful ambition, blending lo-fi aesthetics with sweeping narrative arcs. Mabon isn’t afraid to shift tone mid-track, embracing noise, melody, and absurdity with equal confidence.
It'll probably receive little attention from mainstream media, but it is essential listening with its refusal to conform.
For fans of Super Furry Animals, Peaches, or anything Ankst-adjacent, The Hunt for Meaning is a gem of Welsh underground music— erratic, heartfelt, and fiercely original (apart from the very Beck-esq track Route!)
