Experimental folk duo return with brand new album

Ben Isaac-Evans

Peiriant, the Hay-on-Wye based duo of Rose Linn-Pearl (violin) and Dan Linn-Pearl (guitar) return with their third studio album, Plant today.

A conversation between their respective instruments textured by the addition of earthy bass frequencies, unsuspected rhythms and ineffable sampled noise.

The result is the fullest realisation to date of Peiriant’s creative practice: an urge to embrace fully, the freedom afforded by experimenting and improvising. from the departure point of a musical bedrock of warmth and familiarity.

The band’s previous album, Dychwelyd, explored the act of returning to Cymru to raise a family, its music fused with the landscape of the duo’s home and the surrounding Black Mountains of Bannau Brycheiniog.

The record was awarded Folk album of the month by The Guardian and included in the publication’s top ten folk albums of 2024.

Plant (which means children in Cymraeg) is its sequel, born out of the tensions of the concerns we all face for the future as well as the joy of living in the moment.

Aspects of all the album’s 8 tracks were improvised in the studio, creating a sense of openness and space. Much of the initial ideas were cultivated in the small yet slower windows of time that exist as a creative refuge at the end of the day.

The album is a broadening of the duo’s sound across a set of 8 purposeful and lyrical instrumental pieces. A collection of tone poems informed by the cadences and rhythms of Cymraeg, the language in which Rose is fluent, Dan less so.

This is instrumental music that communicates and articulates the connections inherent in the Welsh language in a wordless dialogue between violin and guitar, one that is understood by anyone, wherever they might be in the world, whatever language they might speak.

For this record Peiriant have expanded on their sound by exploring new sources both electronically and acoustically. In addition to the now staple bass womp of the Moog Grandmother,  a pair of Korg Volca add textured melody and chopped, re-sampled noises are provided courtesy of the Fieldtone Weaver. A fresh use of percussion hears Peiriant dance on new rhythmic, metronomic ground.

The sound of Plant encapsulates a band confidently experimenting with their instruments and technology.

Plant was produced by Sam Grant (Richard Dawson, Pigs x7, Hen Ogledd) and recorded at Blank Studios, Newcastle upon Tyne. The artwork features  Amber Hiscott’s brilliant painting, ‘Violette meets the world’.

In 2025 Peiriant performed at: Green Man Festival, Sŵn festival, Cardiff, Boia Festival, St Davids, NAWR events in Swansea and Hay on Wye and the National Eisteddfod’s Ty Gwerin.

Upcoming gigs: 

March

5th – Clwb ifor bach, Cardiff

6th – Elysium, Swansea

7th – Haver Hub, Haverfordwest

10th – Bank Vault, Aberystwyth

15th – Parish Hall, Hay on Wye

You can order Plant on the Bandcamp website.