''Barafundle'' is the fourth album by Welsh

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music. Chara ...

band

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were a psychedelic folk and alternative rock band which formed in Carmarthen, Wales, in 1991. The group performed music in both Welsh and English, and they had eight Top 75 singles on the UK Singles Chart during their car ...

, which was released 7 April 1997 in the United Kingdom. The album's title comes from the name of a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Songs are often sung in both

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and English, and the album's influences range from

twee-pop Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from the 1986 '' NME'' compilation ''C86''. Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy–girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about lov ...

to traditional

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. Lynn Childs, father of singer Euros and violinist Megan, plays

shawm The shawm () is a Bore_(wind_instruments)#Conical_bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after ...

and other traditional instruments on the album's occasional medieval interludes (for example, on "Starmoonsun").

Singles

Two singles were released from the album. The first single, "Patio Song", was released in late 1996 and became the band's highest charting single in the UK, peaking at #41 in early 1997. The song also ranked #8 on

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

's 1996

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

countdown. The second single, "Diamond Dew", reached #42 on the UK Singles Chart in mid-1997. A contemporaneous non-album single, "Young Girls & Happy Endings", was also released in 1997 and appeared as a bonus track on some American copies of the album.

Track listing

All songs written by

Euros Childs Euros Childs (; Welsh: ; born 16 April 1975) is a Welsh musician and songwriter, perhaps best known as the frontman for the band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and—as of January 2019—the keyboardist for Teenage Fanclub. His sister, violinist Megan Ch ...

unless otherwise stated. # "Diamond Dew" (Childs/

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

) – 2:50 # "The Barafundle Bumbler" – 1:53 # "Starmoonsun" (

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

) – 3:04 # "Patio Song" – 2:43 # "Better Rooms..." – 3:46 # "Heywood Lane" (Lawrence/Childs) – 2:52 # "Pen Gwag Glas" – 3:59 # "Bola Bola" – 1:53 # "Cursed, Coined and Crucified" (Lawrence) – 2:27 # "Sometimes the Father Is the Son" (James) – 3:21 # "Meirion Wyllt" – 2:48 # "The Wizard and the Lizard" (Lawrence/Childs) – 1:58 # "Miniature Kingdoms" (Lawrence/Childs) – 4:17 # "Dark Night" – 4:49 # "Hwyl Fawr I Pawb" ( M. Childs) – 1:48 # "Wordless Song" – 3:20 # "Young Girls & Happy Endings" - 2:25 (US Bonus Track)

Personnel

*Euros Childs - vocals, piano, organ, synths, electric piano, harmonium, guitar (5) *John Lawrence - guitar, vocals, bass (1,2), jaw harp (1,12), electric piano (3), organ (3,13), recorder (3,5,12), piano (9), bodhran (3) *Megan Childs - violin, vocals, viola, organ (9), piano (15) *Richard James - bass, guitar, piano (10), organ (10), synth (4) *Euros Rowlands - drums, percussion *Gorwel Owen - piano (2,16), synth (7) *Fiona Owen - vocals (6,11,14) *Lynn Childs - shawm, crumhorn *Tom Rawlins - shawm, crumhorn,

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...

*Stuart Evans - shawm, flute *Andrew Frizzell - trombone, flute *Simon James - sax, flute *Martin Smith - trumpet, marching horn

References

External links

''Barafundle''
at

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(streamed copy where licensed)
''Barafundle'' page on Euros Childs's official website
{{Authority control 1997 albums Gorky's Zygotic Mynci albums Fontana Records albums Albums produced by Gorwel Owen