Filkin’s Drift – Glan: Album Review

By John Barlass on 7th April 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

Anglo-Welsh duo Filkin’s Drift assemble the songs and tunes that inspired them during their 2023 walking tour along the Welsh Coastal Path for a debut album with a difference!

Release Date: 4^th April 2025

Label: Self Release

Formats: CD / Digital

MEMORIES OF A LONG, LONG WALK

Remember Filkin’s Drift? The Anglo-Welsh duo last graced these pages back in September 2023, when we reported their intention to undertake a marathon 870-mile walk along the Welsh Coastal Path – the ‘long way round’ from Connah’s Quay to Chepstow – to launch their EP, Rembard’s Retreat.

Well; they did it – the walk, I mean – and, along the way, they stopped off to perform 53 shows in 58 days. And now, with Glan, the debut Filkin’s Drift full-length album, they’ve got an everlasting souvenir of their trip. Yes, Glan collects the songs and tunes that evoke and were inspired by the sights that Seth and Chris saw, the people they met, the places they visited and the experiences they enjoyed as they made their way along that coastal road.

FILKIN’S DRIFT

Gloucestershire fiddler Seth Bye and Cardiff-born guitarist Chris Roberts first met in Birmingham, where they continue to base themselves, and they work either as a duo – Filkin’s Drift – or, particularly at festivals, as a broader collective – Filkin’s Ensemble – that draws in the talents of vocalist Ellie Gowers, plus the presence of brass and woodwind. It’s the duo to which our attention is currently focused.

Seth is a fiddler and composer of considerable ability. Alongside the Filkin’s enterprises, he also plays with Balkan band The Destroyers and has toured – playing accordion and banjo alongside his fiddle – with the band that provides the music for Cal McCrystal’s Giffords Circus, a show that visits village greens the length and breadth of the UK each summer. Chris is a guitar maestro who also tours with Tanita Tikaram when he isn’t otherwise occupied.

GLAN – THE ALBUM

Glan, the title of the new album, loosely translates from Cymraeg as ‘shore’ or ‘ being close to a body of water’ and, if you think about it, it would be difficult to come up with a more appropriate title. Because, as the chaps made their tortuous way around the Welsh coast, thy were never more than a few yards away from the River Dee, the Irish Sea or the Bristol Channel. So Glan it is!

The album was recorded live in Stiwdio Felis Fach in Abergavenny, with production assistance from Dylan Fowler, one of the duo’s walking tour collaborators. The album is a mix of Seth’s own compositions and some innovative interpretations of well-known traditional songs and tunes. Many of the song titles – and lyrics – are in Welsh, but despair not if you’re of the Sais persuasion; informative notes that tell the stories behind the songs and tunes, and provide translations of the song titles and lyrics can be found on filkinsmusic.com/glan, and I found that they greatly enhanced my enjoyment of this excellent album.

INTERESTING SOUNDS

It’s the gentle Adar Mân y Mynydd (The Little Birds of the Mountain) that gets Glan up and running. Seth’s plucked violin strings add a sense of contentment to Chris’s guitar harmonics and his soft vocal and, when Seth starts to bow his strings, his decision to do so seems almost organic There’s a strong Celtic feel to the instrumental, traditional, Gwêll yr Adeilad (See the Building). Seth’s dreamy violin evokes pictures of a remote mountain skyline and a peaceful, deserted shoreline, whilst Chris’s fingerpicked guitar provides an earthly anchor to those soaring explorations.

Hiraeth – the word best translates as ‘a deep, yearning longing for something lost or unreachable’ – is a popular Welsh folk song, which Chris delivers with unquestionable sincerity. His guitar part is tasteful and contemplative and Seth’s vocal harmonies are spot-on. And both Seth and Chris manage to coax some interesting sounds from their respective instruments for the medley Craig y Ddinas/The Miller’s Pond. Named after a rocky outcrop in the Brecon Beacons, Craig… is a pleasant dance tune that morphs slowly – and quite dramatically – into The Miller’s Pond, a jig composed by Seth, in which he takes pride in throwing in a few scratches and scrapes from his violin bow.

SILK-LIKE VOCALS

Clay, Nature and Us is another of Seth’s tunes and it’s utterly charming and deeply engaging, before the pair return to the Welsh tradition for the stunning Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn (Watching the White Wheat). The album’s Press Release refers to the ‘polyrhythmic interplay’ that Seth and Chris achieve and, yes, the plucked guitar and violin both seem to sparkle like a cascade of water, before Seth’s smooth bowing calms things down. And, speaking of smoothness, Chris’s vocals have a silk-like quality to them…

CONTEMPORARY/TRADITIONAL HYBRIDS

Collected in the village of Filkins, Oxfordshire (any relation, dare I ask?) in 1912 by George Butterworth, an associate of Cecil Sharp’s, My Pretty Little Highland Mary is a sprightly violin tune, bright and uplifting, before the duo move on to another of their contemporary/ traditional hybrids, Touchpaper/ The Gloucester Hornpipe.

Touchpaper is another of Seth’s tunes and it’s a beautiful, slightly wistful piece. Seth’s violin is punctuated by the briefest dots and dashes from Chris’s guitar, and it works so well. Chris takes the lead on The Gloucester Hornpipe with his guitar, whilst Seth plays a supporting role until he reaches the point when he can’t hold back any longer. The result? An excellent and thoroughly new interpretation of an old favourite.

A NAME TO WATCH – AND A DEBUT ALBUM WITH A DIFFERENCE

Composed in the 6^th Century churchyard of St. Tudno in Llandudno, after an invigorating climb up the Great Orme, Tudno’s is a dramatic tune to which Chris supplies the solid foundation on his strummed guitar to Seth’s uncatchable violin. It’s a tune that caused me to imagine standing alone on the top of that limestone peninsula, watching, as a tornado headed straight for me…

And, to sign off, Seth and Chris tackle another well-known folk song – and do it full justice. Listeners will be familiar with Scottish or Northumbrian interpretations of The Water is Wide; here, Seth’s violin provides the drama, whilst Chris’s vocals offer reassurance. The pair harmonise beautifully and Seth’s violin soars as the closing credits on an epic journey start to roll.

Filkin’s Drift is a name to watch out for, and Glan is a debut album with a difference.

Join Filkin’s Drift on their Welsh Coastal Path Walk – watch the official video to Adar Mân y Mynydd, the album’s opening track, below: