Folk stars Alaw celebrate their triumphant re-emergence from lockdown as they wrap up their spring tour

The folk trio Alaw will be rounding off their small venue tour in Ystradgynlais next week showcasing their new album Drawn to the Light.

The trio, which has already visited Pontio in Bangor and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, has been on tour through January and February with the new musical collaboration which was written and recorded during lockdown.

With their only March date, coinciding with St Patrick’s Day, they will play The Welfare in Ystradgynlais on Thursday, before preparing for the summer festival season to begin.

Alaw is the meeting of violinist Oli Wilson-Dickson, guitarist Dylan Fowler, and keyboard player and vocalist Nia Lynn.

Oli has supported musicians such as Jools Holland, José Carreras and Jamie Cullum, while Dylan has played with Richard Thompson and Nigel Kennedy as well as spending three years in a duo with Sting’s guitarist Dominic Miller who co-wrote Sting’s hit, Shape of My Heart.

Nia’s performing career spans folk and jazz, playing some of the great stages including Ronnie Scott’s, The Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall.

Inspiration

The trio say they created the latest album practising in Dylan’s garden when Covid restrictions allowed and over Zoom when lockdowns were in place.

Dylan said: “At first, the split-second delay that exists on Zoom calls caused us all sorts of issues. Then we realised that the differences in timing were actually giving us new ideas for the music. Zoom almost became a fourth instrument whose inspiration we took into the studios.”

Oli said: “We chose to call the album Drawn to the Light because it represents everything that Britain and the world is hoping for as we all work so hard to rise from the gloom of Covid.

“As we practised in Dylan’s garden, we could feel the sun on our faces and it filled us with hope for the future…not just full concert halls, cheering, hand-clapping and dancing in the aisles, but the light of sheer normality in life.”

This bilingual album called Denwyd i’r Goleuni  in Welsh, comes with an accompanying booklet which reads from one end in Welsh and from the other in English.

ALAW will be playing at The Welfare, Ystradgynlais at 8pm on the 17th March and Drawn To the Light is available through in all good music stores and as a download from the band’s website www.alaw-band.com