The 2kDozen 500: #45 - Colorama, "Llyfr Lliwio"

Following on from some of the listening I was doing last weekend in Sheffield, this is the more recent Colorama album, translating as "Colouring Book", which is more local, more low-key and more Welsh than its more psychedelic antecedent "Box".

There are a lot of expert melodists roaming about Welsh pop, but few wield a melody more expertly than this. Some in Welsh, some in English, one in Spanish - I think.

"Lisa Lan" opens with words of love and a tinkling child-like sound. The vocals sound so close to the mic and so intimate, I imagine it being mumbled under the breath on a walk home from the pub after an exciting first date. That image may be because "Mas Ar Y Dre" begins about walking home in soaked shoes on a Friday night and makes it seem like the most beautiful thing that could ever happen.

"Eleri" sits in the middle of the album, its spaghetti-western majesty glinting in the desert sun. Mournful flute, rattling chains and a stirring melody, though my meagre Welsh can't make out much of the lyrics. Eleri sounds like a lucky woman. "Valley Song" is a sweet inversion of the hiraeth of the Welsh exile, with thoughts of home bringing simple warmth and promise of a happy ending. Before "Safara" ends with some bossanova swish.

"I want to end my days /In my family home/Then if I die I'll be/Happy to go."

Rating: Delight out of Understatement