Utopia [LP], Gwenno, Vinyl

Utopia, Gwenno's fourth solo album, is an extraordinary exploration of her continuously evolving self. If the singer regards her first three solo records 2014's y Dydd Olaf, 2018's Le Kov and 2022's Tresor as "childhood records", rooted in her upbringing, her parents, her formative identity, then Utopia captures a time of self-determination and experimentation. These are songs of discovery, of the years between being someone's daughter and becoming someone's wife and someone's mother. They range from floor-fillers to piano ballads, via contributions from Cate Le Bon and H. Hawkline, and encompass William Blake, a favorite Edrica Huws poem, and the Number 73 bus. It is her finest work to date.