Tristwch Y Fenywod

Tristwch Y Fenywod is a band of three queer women - Gwretsien Ferch Lisbeth (Voice, Dual-Zither), Leila Lygad (Electronic Drums) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Bass Guitar) - who play avant garde Gothic rock with vocals sung entirely in the Welsh language (Cymraeg). Although originally from North Wales, Gwretsien (a member of "xenofeminist crisis energy rock" duo Guttersnipe, along with her solo projects The Ephemeron Loop and Petronn Sphene, plus other groups such as La Brea Pulpit, Swimming Wraith, Cletwisp, BAND and others) has lived in Leeds since 2013 where she soon met Leila (a member of "21st century moon musick" duo Hawthonn and more recently of folk/ritual/avant-garde group Hexham Heads). Both of them are long time prolific members of the Leeds DIY underground music scene. In 2018 Gwretsien and Sidni (originally from Canada, currently performing solo as Slaylor Moon and formerly of noise rock band Shearing Pinx and indie rock band The Courtneys) met and became a couple, then forming the experimental duo Two Form a Click. After a period of collective grief around various personal circumstances of loss and bereavement, they decided to form Tristwch Y Fenywod in early 2022, with the intention to use the Welsh language and Gwretsien's memories of her formative years in North Wales to explore, without setting any particular limits, ideas such as sapphic love and desire, existential darkness, visionary use of psychedelics, political and environmental anguish/celebration, psychogeographic romance, pagan mysticism, imaginal explorations of Celtic history and myth, psychedelia and myriad other variations of reverie. They released a live recording of their first ever public performance in July 2022, to widespread positive reactions. After completing a small tour of Northern England and Wales in March 2023, the group recorded their debut album "Tristwch Y Fenywod" with engineer and producer Ross Halden at Hohm Studio in Bradford. In August 2024 they released their album through Night School Records to universal critical acclaim, having since performed at various UK festivals such as Supernormal and Supersonic, with plans to tour internationally set for 2025. 

Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud, entranced by nocturnal landscapes flickering in the moon-glow and powered by queer enchantment – the music of Welsh trio Tristwch y Fenywod in their own words. But Gwretsien Ferch Lisbeth, Leila Lygad, and Sidni Sarffwraig also sing about Sapphic love and pagan mysticism, combining leitmotifs from Celtic lore and mythology with insights from xenofeminist science fiction. All of their songs are sung in Welsh. Drawing upon ancient history, they envision a brighter future in which people will have escaped the prisons of identity and binarism.